Quickhit: Cavs 94, Bulls 73 (Or, The Delly Game)

We’re heading that way, to the Eastern Conference Finals.

(This article was written by Tom Pestak but the subtitle won’t cooperate)

On November 20, 2013, the Cavs lost an embarrassing home game to the Washington Wizards.  They trailed by 18 at halftime while locked in a sedated malaise.  After what must have been an unpleasant speech from Mike Brown, the Cavs almost immediately saw their deficit balloon to 27.  Brown called a rage timeout, fired off a hockey substitution, and what happened next will forever remain in the minds of the few masochistic passionate fans that continued to watch.

A feisty Matthew Dellavedova, undrafted out of college, harassed Bradley Beal, unbothered to that point, and ignited an almost-epic comeback. (Beal would later nominate Delly as one of the premier backcourt defenders in the league) Mike Brown, to his credit, abandoned the increasingly common part-coach, part-therapist lingo in his post-game interview: “We had one guy that competed the entire time he was on the floor. It’s Matthew Dellavedova.”  To some of us, Delly became a folk hero that night.  To the eternal optimists, his heart and tenacity would inspire the Cavaliers to always play hard.

This game is the one we should look back to as the game this team learned its biggest lesson&turned us in the right direction. It’s a choice

— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) November 21, 2013

The troubles were just beginning for Mike Brown, Chris Grant, and those Cavaliers.  But amid the roller-coaster #seasonofHuh, they had found a constant in Delly.  By the end of the season those of us that suffered through that team knew that Delly nearly led the Cavs in +/-, and that he was the only player that seemed to mesh well with Dion Waiters.  He led all rookies in RAPM.  He fought through a crippling shooting slump and came out the otherside a respectable 37% from 3 (40% from the corners).  As the as the anticipation built for LeBron’s homecoming, Delly was mostly an afterthought.  I believed David Blatt would fall in love with him, because I expected his job to be a roller-coaster, and I expected Delly to be that model of consistency.

Here’s the thing about Matthew Dellavedova.  He will do anything on the basketball court to help the Cavs.  And he will never stop grinding.  He’ll take charges, he’ll defend bigs, he’ll annoy other players into flagrants and ejections, he’ll protect J.R. Smith from himself, he’ll guard the best perimeter opponent, he’ll set screens, he’ll can an open spot 3, and he’s an absolute beast on the defensive glass for a guard.  This season he’s had his struggles, but as time went on he began to feature into the offense with his above-average spot-up 3 point shooting.  And he even developed a fairly devastating alley-oop play with Tristan Thompson.  We know his limitations, we’ve seen the Dellave-D-league comments.  We’ve watched mostly funny vines of him doing something awkward, and we’ve laughed at his red-headed-stepchild fit on the Cavs (the thumbs up picture is the best).

Puzzled me all season why some #Cavs fans don't appreciate Dellavedova. Works his butt off at both ends, teammates love him.

— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) May 15, 2015

But tonight, the world was captivated by the man we know as Delly.  On offense he exploded like a SuperNova.  At the other end his defense was like a black hole.  Derrick Rose looked heavy under the weight of his immense gravity, and no loose ball could escape his clutches.  In an almost eerie parallel to Boobie Gibson’s Game 6 in 2007, he led the Cavs in points and broke the spirit of Bulls.

On a night when Kyrie Irving rolled his ankle and did not play in the second half, on a night when LeBron James shot 6 of 20, on a night where Kevin Love still sits with his arm tied to his chest, on a night where the Bulls were at home, fighting for their playoff lives….on THIS NIGHT, the Cavs lost by a billion WON BY 21 POINTS thanks in large part to the toughness of the newly minted “Bench Mob” and the blinding greatness and suffocating darkness of Matthew Dellavedova.  He scored 19 points on 11 shots and put the Bulls to bed for the summer.

This is a 1980's porno beat BUT LOOK AT BROOKS. LOOK AT HIM. HE WAKES UP LIKE CAPTAIN AMERICA 70 YEARS LATER https://t.co/tMIhbB2912

— FearTheSword (@FearTheSword) May 15, 2015

The Cavs have been getting heroic contributions from people other than the “Big 3” since the playoffs started.  Iman Shumpert once again had a fantastic game.  He hit some huge shots in the 1st half to allow the Cavs to keep pace with the Bulls, and he may have been the spark that catalyzed the blowout.  It is reported that he loudly yelled “He’s a b…” to his teammates, offering up his opinion on Joakim Noah.  The Bulls may have heard it and Nikola Mirotic clotheslined Shumpert in the second quarter.  It was an opportunity cost of just 2 free throws for the Bulls to bully Shump, but the rate of return did not go as expected:

From the time Mirotic clotheslined Shumpert, the #Cavs outscored the #Bulls 53-33.

— Ryan (@Isley23) May 15, 2015

Tristan Thompson continued his sustained excellence (taking a play from the Delly book).  He had 17 (sheesh) rebounds including six offensive boards.  J.R. Smith, who arguably saved the Cavs season with his 4-4 performance in the 4th quarter of game 4, came up big again tonight: 3 triples, 8 rebounds, and a healthy +24 in 34 minutes.

https://twitter.com/Cavsanada/status/599051974458249216

The Cavs won because they stifled the Bulls into sub-40% shooting, gobbled up every rebound, and then drained 12 threes at their basket.  Threes and D, and the Big D, Dellavedova.  Now the Cavs have at least four days off to fire David Blatt.

Do the Cavs really have any chance against the Bulls? Can they at least get a game to make it look competitive? http://t.co/8svpbFZdKH

— Sam Smith (@SamSmithHoops) May 4, 2015

It’s a Delly Podium Game.

The new Big Three pic.twitter.com/WUfNaoD5Ok

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 15, 2015