Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova’s career has been defined by his all-out energy on the court.
He displayed that energy during Friday night’s loss against the Milwaukee Bucks when he flew out of bounds to try to help the Cavs maintain possession and crashed into Fox Sports Ohio announcer Fred McLeod in the process. Following the game, Dellavedova offered McLeod a bottle of wine as an apology for the crash.
The collision took place during the second quarter of the game. Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor provided the description of Dellavedova’s dive for a loose ball going out of bounds:
“The hustling Delly crashed into the broadcast table, flinging a pile of notes in the air and taking McLeod to the ground while the headset flew off his perfectly quaffed hair. Dellavedova never though twice about throttling down and popped up quickly before getting into an offensive set that ended in a missed 3-pointer.”
It's all fun and games until Delly destroys your notes 🤣 pic.twitter.com/V3Tce4HBz3
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) December 15, 2018
After the game, McLeod interviewed Dellavedova and joked about whether he was able break the guard’s fall:
Delly gives @CavsFredMcLeod his endorsement for Australian Rules Football. 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/254i3f5Sv6
— Bally Sports Cincinnati (@BallySportsCIN) December 15, 2018
“More than A.C. (Austin Carr) did, so I appreciate that, Fred. I owe you a good bottle of wine, sorry.”
Not surprisingly, the play was discussed after the game, with Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew offering his unique insight while praising Dellavedova’s effort:
“I feel kinda bad because I moved out of the way. But I know he was trying to save the ball. That’s who he is. That’s why he’s in this league, because he’s still making plays like that. I don’t know what the score was at that point, but it’s a loose ball. I don’t know many guys that would have attempted to save that ball.”
Center Larry Nance Jr. also indicated that the play served as an inspiration for Dellavedova’s Cavs teammates:
“That’s our boy. That’s the type of thing that endears him to these fans and to us as teammates. You see him doing that and it makes me want to dive on the floor, makes J.C. (Jordan Clarkson) want to dive for loose ball just because you see your teammate giving everything they’ve got. We need more of that.”
The loss to Milwaukee dropped the Cavaliers to 7-22 on the year, a record they’ll look to improve on when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday afternoon.
