The Cleveland Cavaliers were eaten alive by the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, and the recent downfall of Matthew Dellavedova seems to suggest he’s a scapegoat.
With the Cleveland Cavaliers reeling from a harsh loss on the road against the Atlanta Hawks on Friday night, the team is looking to bounce back against the Phoenix Suns tonight. But that’s not what’s on the minds of many fans, as folks are still dwelling on what went wrong with the team in Friday night’s loss.
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Matthew Dellavedova has been a thorn in the side of Cavaliers fans all season long, but as the losing starts to get more devastating and the wins start to mean more, Delly’s less than superb play is something that is worrisome. Dellavedova has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he isn’t the backcourt defender he needs to be, and you need not look any further than the way the Hawks played on Friday night for proof.
Just go back and look at how well the Hawks bench played not just in the win over the Cavaliers but all season long as well. It’s not just the Hawks bench either, as teams like the Bulls, Wizards, Warriors and others all have shown what importance needs to be placed on the backup role at the point.
It’s basically Kyrie or bust at this point, as there is no faith in Delly whatsoever and that’s something that needs to change.
Cavaliers fans don’t need to be beaten over the head with testimonials though, as the very fact that Kyrie Irving is fragile and the guy who would replace him is Matthew Dellavedova is all you need to be nervous.
But is Delly the Cavaliers biggest weakness?
At the start of the season, it was frontcourt strength that was a weakness but that has transitioned over into fear about backcourt depth. The Cavaliers have no depth at shooting guard outside of role players like James Jones and Mike Miller — but both of them qualify as wing players.
It’s basically Kyrie or bust at this point, as there is no faith in Delly whatsoever and that’s something that needs to change. Other teams see the lack of depth there and lick their chops, as taking Kyrie out of the game means Delly comes in and gets eaten alive.
That’s not a strategy that always beats the Cavaliers, but it’s one that could make big games late in series a lot more complicated unless things are sorted out. It may be slightly unfair to Delly to put this on him like that, but the Cavaliers want to win a title this year and as we saw in Miami with LeBron last year, just one wrong thing can flip the entire ship.
Next: 5 Free Agent Guards Who Can Replace Matthew Dellavedova
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