Matthew Dellavedova, once just an everyday role player coming off the bench, now a household name (at least for now). With Kyrie Irving out, Dellavedova has hustled and defended on his way to being the talk of the town.
Not only are NBA fans everywhere talking about him, but some players and superstars are talking about him as well. According to Ananth Pandian of CBS Sports, Kobe is also admiring the heart and passion that Delly is showing. Kobe had this to say to Sina Sports about Dellavedova:
“Dellavedova, listen he’s coming in and playing extremely well. He’s playing physical and he’s playing hard. I mean, there’s a ball there at the end that was rolling around and he dove on the ball. Which tells you how much he wants it. You want to see players playing with that sort of desperation, playing with that passion. Because then you see that this game means everything to them. If it means more to you then it does to the other guy then you have a better chance at winning.”
This has been a great postseason for the guard from Australia who went undrafted. There’s an arena in Australia that is being renamed in his honor, and he has one of the greatest shooting guards to ever play complimenting his game. Add an NBA Finals win on top of that, and you got yourself a movie in the making.
