Matthew Dellavedova is getting too much credit for stopping Stephen Curry
There's a reason the
Golden State Warriors won 67 games this season and had the league's second-most efficient offense. When you have someone like
Stephen Curry on your team, a player who forces the entire defense to bend towards him, almost every look is a good one, be it a wide open three or a clear lane to the rim.
All of this is why the
Cleveland Cavaliers' 95-93 Game 2 win was so shocking.
LeBron James put up big numbers, but he wouldn't have led his team to a victory if not for Curry shooting 5-of-23 from the field and 2-of-15 from behind the three-point line. Those 13 misses from behind the arc are an
NBA Finals record, according to the
Elias Sports Bureau. Even worse, Curry was just 1-of-8 on uncontested field goal attempts, according to
NBA.com. Instead of looking like the league MVP that he was Curry spent the evening playing like a blind man carelessly heaving balls at a hoop.
The question is: was Curry just ice cold, or were his woes the result of a Cavaliers tactic?
"It had everything to do with Delly,"
James said after the game, referring to Cavaliers guard
Matthew Dellavedova. "He just kept a body on Steph. He made Steph work. He was spectacular, man, defensively. We needed everything from him."
There are numbers that back up that theory. In Game 2 Curry missed all eight of the shots he took while being guarded by Dellavedova, according to
ESPN Stats & Info. When Curry was off the ball, Dellavedova managed to stay glued to him no matter where he went, forcing Curry to work for every inch of free space.
There was also this clip of Dellavedova in Curry's grill which ABC showed in slow motion. It became a symbol of all the hard work Delly was putting into containing the best shooter the league has ever seen.
But this heavily contested shot was actually an uncommon result in Game 2. A look at the film shows that Curry spent most of the game getting decent looks -- at least by his standards -- that he would normally connect on. But on this night, for whatever reason, the results were different.
As Curry explained:
Shots I normally make I knew as soon as they left my hand that they were off. That doesn't usually happen. I mean, mechanically I don't know if there is an explanation for it, just didn't have a rhythm and didn't find one the whole game.
Curry was asked if he thought Dellavedova's defense threw him off. The answer: um, not really.
Nothing really just besides playing their game plan and playing defense like every pro is supposed to. Not giving up on any possession.
But I doubt this will happen again, with the adjustments I'll make once I'll look at the film.
In fact, when Curry does look at the film he'll likely realize he doesn't need to make any adjustments at all. Instead he'll see myriad open shots that he normally hits with ease.
Here's a three-pointer Curry missed in the third quarter off a fast break.
Here's Curry's first shot in overtime, a three-pointer from straight away coming off a pick-and-roll. That's a shot he normally buries.
You can find similar situations when Curry was being guarded by Dellavedova, too. On this play, Curry ran Dellavedova into a
Festus Ezeli screen. With
Timofey Mozgov hanging back near the foul line, Curry got another wide open attempt from the top of the key. This is a shot Curry normally makes. Here he missed.
On this play, Dellavedova fell to the floor chasing Curry and didn't get to his feet by the time Curry received the ball. Another great look. And yet another miss.
Finally, Curry received the ball in the same spot in overtime and used a ball fake to send Dellavedova flying by. Check out where Dellavedova was as Curry prepared to launch. This is the moment opponents expect Curry to hit a dagger. But in this case he missed again.
Curry's biggest problem Sunday night was his own decision-making, not Dellavedova's defense. Instead of trying to get to the rim the league MVP appeared content launching jumper after jumper from deep, even though his most productive plays (such as his game-tying shot in regulation) came when he found the paint.
On this play Curry had lots of room to attack as
Tristan Thompson picked him up off a fast break. Instead he decided to pull the ball back and launch a three over the taller defender.
Curry's did cough the ball up six times, but the majority of his turnovers were the result of his own careless play, not some magic conjured up by Dellavedova. One occurred after Curry dribbled the ball off Dellavedova's foot. Another was the result of a hard trap led by Dellavedova. He deserves some credit for those two.
But Dellavedova had nothing to do with the other four. One should have been assessed to the passer instead of Curry, while two came off careless looks.
On this crucial play in overtime, Curry decided to throw the ball to a covered
Klay Thompsoninstead of a cutting Draymond Green. The pass was intercepted by
Iman Shumpert.
Although Dellavedova played well in Game 2, Curry's horrific night was mostly the result of his own miscues. During the regular season Curry hit 49 percent of the shots he took with a defender within 4 feet of him, per
NBA.com. The player we saw in Game 2 is not who he normally is. Don't expect to see Curry shoot this poorly again this series, even if Dellavedova plays the defensive game of his life.