After Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers
guard Matthew Dellavedova
was famously hospitalized due to dehydration.
Dellavedova was guarding Steph Curry for the entire game and needed an IV to recover from exhaustion. He finally opened up about the toll of trying to stop Curry during that series, especially in Game 3, in an appearance on The Richard Show.
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"I kind of get in the locker room, they do the talk, but I start cramping," Dellavedova said. "Steve (Spiro) and UK (Nakayama) take me back there. They cut my tights, they're trying to rub ice, 'cause you couldn't get them down. My quads are cramping, my hammies are cramping, so you can't stretch one or the other.
"I'm just in a world of hurt. Then they just like carry me and put me in the ice bath up to like here, and I'm just sitting there, and then your body slowly, just the cramps kind of go away."
Dellavedova added that the decision to take him to the Cleveland Clinic came from Spiro and the team's doctors. The Cavaliers didn't have a lot of time in between games, so they wanted their guard to get an IV to replenish the lost fluids from guarding Curry.
The Australian star was given the task to slow down Curry after Kyrie Irving
went down with an injury in Game 1.
J.R. Smith
's Viral Delly Story About Guarding Steph Curry
Back in April 2023, JJ Redick
was not yet coaching the Los Angeles Lakers
. He was still the host of The Old Man and The Three
podcast and had J.R. Smith
as a guest.
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Smith shared the story of how Matthew Dellavedova "nearly died" after guarding Steph Curry in Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals.
"I love Delly to death, but Delly almost died guarding Steph Curry," Smith said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. "No, literally almost died. We have footage of this man in the ice tub, like, literally to his neck, trying to guard this man."
The former Sixth Man of the Year had nothing but respect and admiration for Dellavedova's effort in that series. He did his best trying to slow down probably the best version of the Golden State Warriors
superstar.
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended up losing the 2015 NBA Finals, but they came back from a 3-1 deficit to win their first NBA championship a year later against the same Warriors team.
Delly Praise in 2015 NBA Finals 'Lit Fire' on Steph Curry
When the Cleveland Cavaliers took a 2-1 series lead in the 2015 NBA Finals, Matthew Dellavedova was hyped up by fans and analysts as the Steph Curry stopper.
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According to Chris Haynes back then with the Cleveland Plain Dealer
, Curry took it personally, and the praise for Delly lit a fire on the Golden State Warriors
superstar.
"People have lit a fire under Steph, which is good thing," Warriors big man Andrew Bogut
told Haynes back then. "It's something that you don't want to do. It worked out well. We know Delly is a great defender, but we know he's not a Curry stopper."
Curry averaged 28.0 points on 48.6% shooting in the final three games of the series as the Warriors won their first title in 40 years.
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