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Folk hero Dellavedova writing his own history

Dellavedova in his St Mary's college days. Photo: Getty

Dellavedova in his St Mary's college days. Photo: Getty

Say what you like about Twitter, but at times it’s just outright funny.

Some lark has created a handle called @DellyFact which is dedicated to Australia’s man of the moment, Matthew Dellavedova of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and this offering on Thursday was priceless:

Dellavedova would likely find all this amusing.

He might point out that a certain LeBron James, the greatest basketballer on the planet, is averaging 40 points a game in the NBA Finals series between his Cavaliers and the fancied Golden State Warriors, the best number by an individual player in the history of the Finals.

He would also chuckle at the fact that, in the absence of the injured superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, he ended up being LeBron’s running mate for the Cavs.

The Tweet sending Aussie basketball fans crazy 
Delly: so good he’s about to get his own stadium 
Dellavedova key to LeBron’s ‘grit squad’

LeBron, the bejewelled multi-billionaire from the projects, who once said, upon collecting a league MVP award: “I ain’t even supposed to be here.”

And Delly, the scrapper from the Australian bush, both working toward a first-ever NBA title for Cleveland, the city that pales against New York and LA and Boston and San Francisco.

It has a nice ring to it, there’s no doubt about it, and the Americans have picked up on it.

There was a moment in game three in Cleveland when the crowd started chanting: Delllll-eeee, Dellll-eee. It’s all a bit surreal.

Dellavedova's clash with Stephen Curry looms as a key to the series. Photo: Getty

Dellavedova’s clash with Stephen Curry looms as a key to the series. Photo: Getty

People gathered around TVs in offices around the country to watch the closing stanzas of game three and admire the boy from Australia diving on loose balls, taking knees to the midriff, chasing the ball into the crowd. They were in my office.

There’s a side to this story that appeals to Australians, with their love of the battler-come-good, and Delly fits that bill.

Dellavedova was a fine college player at St Mary’s, the same college as Canberra’s Patty Mills, whose cluster of three-pointers against the Miami Heat in game five of last year’s finals put him on the world stage.

They were both on Australia’s Olympic team in London in 2012, Mills the leading scorer, Dellavedova scrapping and diving and doing his thing.

He’s a good face-up defender, Delly, and a decent shooter albeit with a clunky, inelegant shooting stroke. Mills, quicker and smoother, is a better player, but his time was last year. Delly’s is now.

So Dellavedova, product of the Victorian town of Maryborough, has not exactly come from nowhere in basketball terms; it’s just that he did not look like an NBA star.

He was not drafted to the NBA initially, and had to wait for Cleveland to come knocking with a two-year, $100,000-a-year contract, a pittance by the James standards, straight after the draft in 2013. They called him “Mr 61”, because there had been 60 live picks in that draft.

This year he has come off the bench as back-up to Irving, but when the latter broke his kneecap in game one, someone had to carry the basketball and guard Steph Curry, the Warriors’ point guard who won the MVP as the best player in the league this year.

Curry could make a three-pointer out of a passing bus; he’s as beautiful a ball player as you would find, master of the crossover dribble and the smooth stroke.

But when called upon in game two, Delly harangued Curry, and the Warrior did not score a single point while the Australian was guarding him. His long jump shot in the final second to win the game fell short.

Dellavedova, who’d made the two free-throws to go ahead by one on the previous play, was in his face with a flailing hand as the shot went up.

Dellavedova in his St Mary's college days. Photo: Getty

Dellavedova in his St Mary’s college days. Photo: Getty

In game three, Curry actually rallied late in the game after scoring just three points in the first half.

The Warriors set two and three screens for Delly to fight through, keeping Curry open, and he had 27 points by the end of the game to Dellavedova’s 20.

But Curry, as the MVP, has been well below his regular-season form.

His shooting percentage has dipped dramatically, and there have been headlines suggesting his performance thus far has been the worst-ever by an MVP in the Finals.

Some of the reporting from the NBA back here can get a little parochial at times, and I cringed last week when LeBron was required by journalists to repeat his apparent love for all things Australian.

Delly is not the dominant figure in this series; LeBron James, who hails from Cleveland, who left the club for Miami then returned, is the man.

But in matching Curry and chasing all those loose balls, Delly is a big part of it, No.2 on the story list in a club not short of great stories.

Game four is on Friday (11am AEST), again in Cleveland.

Dellavedova has been in hospital on a drip because of severe cramping.

There’s a metaphor in all that, for his style epitomises Cleveland, the underdog team from the underdog town.

The Cavs are two wins away from history. Matthew Dellavedova, start writing.

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