LEBRON James has jumped to the defence of team-mate Matthew Dellavedova after the former Bendigo Junior Braves guard was unfairly cast as villain by some in an incident with Atlanta’s Al Horford in the NBA play-offs.
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Some NBA analysts and the Atlanta Hawks described Dellavedova as a dirty player despite the Maryborough-raised guard having a stray elbow from Horford thrown towards his head in the second quarter of the Cavs’ 114-111 overtime win in game three of the eastern conference finals.
Dellavedova attempted to box out Horford in a rebounding duel and the Atlanta forward dragged him to the ground.
Dellavedova inadvertently rolled up on Horford's right leg and Horford responded by throwing his right arm down at the side of Dellavedova’s head.
Horford was ejected from the game and Dellavedova received a technical foul.
"I did think he went at me, but I should have handled it better," Horford said.
"Shouldn't have gotten caught up in that and it's something I'll definitely learn from."
Dellavedova questioned Horford’s comments.
"I would obviously disagree with that, I was boxing him out," Dellavedova said. "You can see from the baseline view that he's pulling my arm."
In game two of the series Dellavedova scrambled for a loose ball and accidentally collected Atlanta star Kyle Korver in the leg. Korver suffered a season-ending ankle injury.
Following game three, Atlanta duo Kent Bazemore and Shelvin Mack both questioned Dellavedova’s”track record”.
James said anyone who questioned Dellavedova’s integrity was misinformed.
"We're not trying to get people hurt," James said.
"But you play to win the game and you play aggressively. This guy, he works his tail off every single day. He beats the odds and he comes to play as hard as he can every single night. If they're (Atlanta) focusing on Delly, they're focusing on the wrong thing.
"Obviously I'm a little off about it because this is my guy.
"This is my team-mate and this is the guy who goes out and works his tail off every single night and people are trying to give him a bad rap and he doesn't deserve it and I don't like it."
Dellavedova once again stepped up for the Cavs in the absence of starting point guard Kyrie Irving.
Dellavedova scored 17 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out two assists.
James was outstanding with 37 points, 18 rebounds, 13 assists and three steals.
The 114-111 win put the Cavs within one win of advancing to the NBA finals. Game four is on Wednesday morning AEST.
