#CavsRank Moments: 10-9 (The Gritty Ones)

This set of #CavsRank Moments requires the reader to think back to some dirty stuff. I’m talking about diving for loose balls. I’m talking about guys making other guys know the smell of their armpits because they’re right in each others’ faces. I’m talking about guys talking trash to another man no matter how superior he is to them on the court. I’m talking about guys winning because they made sure they had more hustle than anybody else on the floor. In these next moments, we get to remember when Delly played himself into a dehydrated mess of Australian everymanness to give the Cavs a 2-1 lead in the 2015 Finals, and that time the Warriors thought it was smart to tease the King.

10. The Delly Dehydration Game

The 2015 Finals didn’t go how they were supposed to. No one thought the Cavs would be without both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love by the time Game 2 arrived. However, that didn’t stop the Cavs from giving up. Matthew Dellavedova, specifically, put the Cavs on his back and helped them get two wins nobody saw coming. The first win was in Game 2. He held Stephen Curry to 5-23 from the field and just 2-15 from deep. Curry had just 19 points.

Delly had only nine points and one assist in 42 minutes. The numbers weren’t great, but he had the second highest plus-minus of all the guys on the floor at +15. That was the night a thousand memes were created. Delly had become what all Cleveland people love: a Mazda driving, hoody wearing, Fosters drinking, floor diving, jersey tugging guy who can force the MVP of the league to miss a game winning overtime shot, all while making just $817,000 a year. He was a regular dude who was trying his best. That game in Oakland started the idea of folk-hero Delly.

Delly’s podium outfit ensured he could walk among any crowd of Cavs fans without being hassled. He’s one of the guys.

Game three cemented the idea of Delly as a folk-hero in Cleveland, and it happened at the Q. In that game, Delly continued to play his handsy defense on Curry. He ran around making sure Curry got to smell his Brut, that’s probably the preferred scent of minimum salary guys I’d assume. He poked his chest into Curry at every possible moment, and kept his hands sky high to help deny Curry the ball. That’s not all he did though. In Game 2, the Cavs really just used him to bring the ball up the floor before passing to Lebron for Le-Iso action. In game three, he tore up the Golden State defense. He scored 20 points, had four assists, and sucked up five rebounds. His points weren’t easy ones either. He was moving into the paint and lobbing up crazy floaters, and even hit two threes, one of which was off the dribble.

https://youtu.be/zwTAyByZnWc?t=15s

In the beginning of the third quarter, he officially earned star status. He used a Timofey Mozgov screen to drill a three while Curry watched in awe, which gave the Cavs an eight point lead. The next time down the floor, he took a Mozzy screen and hit a floater to give the Cavs a ten point lead. Chants of “Delly,” erupted. It felt magical watching from home, and it was nearly impossible not to scream “Delly” at the time.

Curry went off in the fourth quarter for 17 points, hitting five threes, but Delly was draped all over him, and it still didn’t change the fact that the Splash Bros weren’t splashing most of the game. Klay Thompson and Curry went 16-36 for 41 points, well below their season average. And, they turned the ball over seven times.

Delly earned the podium with his performance in game three. He did enough that LeBron was able to rest a little after playing 50 minutes just two nights before. His scoring allowed the King to score his 40 points when they truly mattered. Unfortunately for the Australian born Jordan, he didn’t get to enjoy the podium. He played so hard that he became extremely dehydrated and had to spend the night at the Cleveland Clinic.

Delly went from a guy who played just 20 minutes a night during the regular season to one who was having his name chanted by an entire city. He was a guy many thought would be cut after his first summer league, but he just kept hanging in there and will be remembered forever for his efforts during the 2015 Finals.

–

If you’re new to Delly, watch this video by basketball impersonator Brandon Armstrong.

He’s ripping on Delly, but it’s pretty spot on. Delly is all hustle and no flash.

9. The Dubs Taunt the King

When you get in the NBA as a new player, one of the first things you learn is that you don’t want to give a guy who is better than you any reason to want to show that. There’s a hierarchy. If you’re a player like J.J. Barea, you don’t go after Eric Bledsoe. Bledsoe doesn’t go after Chris Paul. There’s a place for everyone. The Warriors never learned that basic NBA rule. They chose to go after the King, and considering the King is better than anyone on their team, it was a bad idea. It just gave the King one more reason to destroy them.

The Warriors’ timing didn’t help either. They chose to start messing with LeBron James the day after Draymond Green got suspended for his hand winding up in the King’s sacred zone after the “Stepover.” They taunted with James after Green reportedly called him a bi##h. The Warriors and their fans trolled the King mercilessly before game five, which, I must mention, was an elimination game, with the Cavs down 1-3 in the series. Everyone from the Warriors chimed in.

Marreese Speights utilized emojis.

🍼

— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) June 12, 2016

Klay Thompson took to the media to dump haterade on James.

“Guys talk trash in this league all the time,’’ Thompson said. “I’m just kind of shocked some guys take it so personal. It’s a man’s league, and I’ve heard a lot of bad things on that court, but at the end of the day, it stays on the court.

“I don’t know how the man feels, but obviously people have feelings and people’s feelings get hurt even if they’re called a bad word. I guess his feelings just got hurt. We’ve all been called plenty of bad words on the basketball court before. Some guys just react to it differently.”

Ayesha Curry’s wife thought that this LeBron statement was humorous:

“Oh, my goodness,” James said. “I’m not going to comment on what Klay said because I know where it can go from [here]. It’s so hard to take the high road. I’ve been doing it for 13 years. It’s so hard to continue to do it, and I’m going to do it again. At the end of the day, we’ve got to go out and show up and play better [Monday], and if we don’t, then they’re going to be back-to-back champion. But I’ve taken the high road again.”

Stephen Curry didn’t chip in with any taunting, but his wife, Ayesha, did. She had some snappy words for the King.

High Road. invisible bridge used to step over said person when open floor is available left to right.

— Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) June 12, 2016

With all that talk, there was plenty of motivation for LeBron heading into a must win game five. He did not disappoint. As soon as the King set foot onto the Oracle’s floor, boos reigned down on him. He sucked it up as much as a man can without utilizing the Hogan “let me hear you,” hand gesture. He didn’t let the rain of boos stop his seek and destroy mission. The King was scanning the scene in Oakland that night, and he was looking for the Warriors to start up a fight. He was going to finish them.

Mo Speights got the worst of it. The King smashed all over his face right before half-time.

The King went on to finish the game with 41 points, 16 rebounds, and seven assists. He was 4-8 from deep. The Cavs ended up winning the game, 112-97. His performance pretty much shut up anything the actual Warriors had to say.

While James couldn’t go after Ayesha, the Cleveland fans did. They kept modifying her family photos throughout the Finals. She eventually broke down and demanded the memes come to an end.