DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum Cavs and NBA Playoffs Discussion

I am not a Cavs fan, I am not a Hawks fan. I am an unbiased observer. Dellavedova is not intetionally dirty, he just does things that other players don't like (like diving a players legs).

If Dellavedova did what he did to Korver, Gibson, and Horford to a Cavs player, people on here would hate him.

A bleacher report article I read said something interesting-

Olynyk rips out Kevin Love's arm, gone for 6 months, and national media dismisses it as any kind of dirty play.


Al Horford brings Dellavedova down to the foor with him, and Delly is a dirty player according to a lot of national media.

My god. Enough.

This is not true at all.

There was quite a bit of it the next day. Even Bruce Bowen, who was no angel himself, said the play wasn't dirty.

I like to think I'm not too much of a homer when it comes to my sports teams, I can't see why why national people are referring to deli as dirty, it never even crossed my mind

Being a homer and being biased are not the same. You like your guy, so you want to defend him. Some of things he has done are dirty.

If Dellavedova was diving at Cavs player's legs and leg locking them you would all hate him. It's not even a question.

The only thing Delly has done wrong in the playoffs is leg lock Gibson, and eventually he was punished properly. He should have been given a T right when it happened.

If you think what he did in the Korver play was dirty, then you don't know basketball.

I really just think guys like Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller don;t like him.

Dude has no problem laying his body out to get a loose ball. We hear these former pro analysts all the time handing out credit for doing that, but for whatever reason, he does it, and they call him dirty. As I said before, Brent Barry made an excellent point that Korver didn't dive for that ball but instead bent down, putting his ankle at risk on that play. Had he dove for the ball, he'd be ok.

The guy plays hard. Sorry.

OMG DIRTY.

Leg locking. You mean after taj Gibson, drilled him in the back? That leg lock was nothing in comparison. Diving for a loose ball in the eastern conference finals? Or diving at a players legs?

Im missing where Delly was diving at anyones legs, where did that happen, I saw him get pulled down and dive after a ball.. I think it was shaq who said if Korver would have dove after the ball like delly did, which is what you do in playoffs, noone would be talking about it and korver probably still playing. Korver's own laziness is what did him in...thats why he's a sub average player with plus level deep shot.

GMAB. With the exception of the half-second "leg lock" on Gibson, nothing Delly has done is even a common foul, let alone a dirty play. And even that leg lock has got to be one of the tamest instigations I've ever seen ... especially considering Gibson shoved him in the back of the head just before.

I can't think of anyone else that has done something equivalent of what Delly has done to the Cavs ... maybe the stuff Joakim Noah does? But people don't hate him for out hustling one of our players to a ball. People hate him cause he's a Grade-A DB and rips on the city among other things. I actually admire Noah for his hustle, but that's about it.

The Kelly Olynyk play was NOTHING like anything Delly has done, yet many in the media were quick to dismiss it as just an awkward non-dirty play.

Ok, someone help me out here, I just watched the TNT post game where they where talking about delly. Ernie Johnson said that the leg lock was the dirtiest of the 3 plays. Before that leg lock happened, didn't taj Gibson drill delly in the back, or maybe near his head, with his elbow, that caused delly to go to the ground?

And we are talking about a leg lock being dirty? I may have misremembered that play.

You didn't misremember, the leg lock was a hold and Delly was drilled in the back, pushed to the ground and Taj fell on top of him. As Taj got up Delly locked onto the leg to hold him so it wouldn't be a 5 on 4.

People act like Delly has a figure 4 leg lock on.

Horver got out hustled and didn't dive for the ball, he put himself in that position.

Horford pulled down Delly, while he tripped over Carrol. He wasn't diving for anyone's legs.

Ernie didn't call it dirty, he just said of the 3 incidents, it's the one he has the most problem with. I agree. Although it's not any kind of intent to hurt Gibson, it's still not something he should have done, and he should have gotten a technical immediately.

I agree with that. Delly had reason to leglock Gibson, but it was still a "dirty" play. (though nowhere near as bad as some make it out to be)

The Korver play was a clean basketball play, and exactly what I want my players ding. Get after every loose ball, get on the floor so you don't get hurt, and fight for every possession like it is the one that turned the game in your favor.

The play yesterday was idiotic. Delly trips over a Hawks player on the ground, and is then dragged backwards by Horford, and Horford gets mad at him? For what?

Man, I hate to see how mad Horford would be at Delly if he shot him, and Delly had the audacity to bleed on him.

It's Time

I was just on one of the Hawks message boards and almost to a man they feel that the only reason they're down 3-0 is because of the officiating, dirty play and the NBA wanting Lebron in the finals.

I stay away from the NBA forums, even the Cavaliers. They're generally filled with a bunch of whiny arrogant children.

Looks like the Rockets might just extend the WCF.

Let's hope so anyway.

I just went to one.. And their perception of the Delly/Horford incident made my brain hurt..

I just.. I don't know..

I'm actually surprised the Hawks have enough people to have a forum. Is it co-owned with bengal fans so they can have more than 20 people?

Your attitude is just further proof of The NBA trying to keep the Hawks down!

Assuming Steph Curry doesn't end up with any cuncussion symptoms..

He's super lucky he didn't break his arm when he tried to brace his fall..

Also Dwight Howard back elbowed Bogut in the face (after Bogut two handed shoved him in the face) and only got a Flagrant 1.

And we wonder why people hate the NBA (Refs)

That's not surprising at all. It's the easiest rationalization paths frankly. Happens with Browns fans in the gameday forums every loss. But it especially happens when you're convinced your beloved is one great and then is shown to Not be great. I visited the Hawks forums before the series and the confidence was pretty high that they were the better team, especially with the Cavs injuries. They did not smell sweep to say the least. I don't think any of us did either.

I came to ask a question... who do we match up better against, Rockets or Warriors? Yes, Curry is in my mind unequivocally the 2nd best player in the NBA and their back court is so efficient. But Harden has that "thing" that scares me in the playoffs. He plays angry, like he has a serious ugly chip on his shoulder. It wouldn't surprise me to see this series still go to 6 or 7 games. In either case we have our work seriously cut out. I think we'd definitely be a pretty heavy under dog against the Warriors. But I'd almost rather face them than the rockets. Thoughts?

Just saw the play ... Was that not the exact same thing that happened to JR Smith? Shouldn't Dwight get a two game suspension now?

My opinion on Delly is you have a kid who had to battle onto a roster by giving all out effort. Noone drafted him. He's aggressive and plays fast. Although I kind of can see how people would view it as "dirty", I myself (not claiming to know Delly) don't think he's that kind of player, nor do I think anything was done with malicious intent.

I just hope that, being blunt here, Atlanta knowing tonight is their last game before being sent home permentantly, don't try to pull any dirty plays or get cheap shots in.

I stand by Delly.

Get out your brooms! Tonight. Just win, y'all.

Go, Cavs!

So, Love gets his arm pulled on while going after a loose ball and is gone for the playoffs... Kyrie steps on a guys foot and is a fraction of himself for the rest of the playoffs... Curry falls 8 feet onto a hardwood floor, landing on his shoulder and neck in an awkward fashion and 20 minutes later he's back on the floor draining 3s.... Typical Cleveland sports luck..

**Disclaimer - I realized after posting this that some people might interpret this as me wishing Curry was hurt.. Not the case at all, just stating that in two relatively minor incidences we lose a guy (or most of a guy) while other teams have much more serious looking incidences and don't lost their best players for more than a few minutes...

Around the time the season started, I mentioned that one of my big worries about trading for Kevin Love was that we'd have a starting rotation consisting of three guys who had a history of injuries. And here we are with Andy, Love and Irving all on the bench.

Cavs fan bias.

my prediction stands:

Cavs in 6
Warriors in 5

Warriors in 7

This is just... (I'll keep my board status as active.)

HE IS NOT DIVING AT ANYONE'S LEGS! My GOD, watch the tape. He is going after a loose ball and the Koprver gives less than 50% effort. Had he wanted the 50-50 ball as much as Delly, he would have made an effort and he would still be playing. And there are plenty of people on this board who call out our players for boneheaded plays and aren't myopic. The worst thing this guy did was the Gibson leg lock and it was stupid to do.

AND...if the Korver thing was such a dirty play, it would have been a story before it became a story 2 days later! This whole thing is just nonsense.

As for Harford, it was a classic box out and he got dragged by his arm over Crawford, taking out Delly's legs and down to the ground.

pic.twitter.com/jrKsjFlLmg

I just don't think it is. In all three instances Delly works extremely hard and puts himself in a position to make a good basketball play.

The first one is the worst one if you want to crucify Delly, but you have to watch the watch the whole leg lock sequence with Gibson. Gibson set a screen on Delly twice on the play. In both instances the force of the contact is enough to snap Dellys head back. After the shot Delly hustles and gets in front of Gibson. Gibson runs him over and knocks him to the ground and falls on him. Delly then leg locks him and Gibson Kicks out at him.

Delly's leg lock was wrong and deserved a tech, but GIbsons two hard screen and shove of Delly to the floor do not make him an innocent victim many on the media are making him out to be. Previous plays probably went into this sequence, but it is hard to call Delly the instigator in this incident. On a personal level, I do not think that Gibson should have been ejected. It should have been a flagarant 1, because of Dellys leg lock. That was bad refereeing.

The Korver incident was unfortunate, but I do not see how you can blame anyone. It was a fifty fifty ball and one player dove for the ball. The other tried to run and pick it up. Both players had every right to dive for the ball, but only one did. Unfortunately Korvers choice to run at the ball to pick it up and Dellys dive resulted in a collision, and because Korver was standing his legs were in the way. Nothing Malicious just unfortunate. The fact that Korver was lost for the playoffs makes it seem worse than it really was.

In the Horford incident. Delly had a good box out of Al Horford (just like Curry had on Dwight Howard), but when the ball careened off the rim they both reached back over there heads for the ball. Horford clearly pulls on Dellys arm, but we do not know how hard. Was it solely responsible for Dellys tumble to the floor, or did Delly embelish a little to make sure the refs called the foul. I think this is where the argument between the Hawks and Cavs fans arise. Delly landed near his leg and Horford brought down his elbow and body to the head of Delly. Horford thought he was going for his legs, but it is hard to claim the moral high ground when you are atleast partly responsible for puling the player off balance. It clearly warranted a flagrant 2 on Horford. If you believe that Delly embelished the foul then that deserved the tech.

In all these plays Dellededova out works the bigger faster more talented player. In the Horford and Gibson incidents they got mad at him and retaliated at him. It is not his fault he hustled and put himself in a position to make the correct basketball play. If the players he is playing against don't like it, then they can use their superior talent and Athleticism to out work him. Elbows and kicks are a weak mans response and show a hell of a lot less respect for the "brotherhood of the NBA" than any of Delly's hustle has.

Excellent post. Pretty much exactly how I see things.

Interestingly, Delly's college coach has said what a hustler Delly was, even in college. He said something along the lines of what Blatt has said about Delly.

Delly plays hard, and clean. I think perhaps the "hard" part is what gets opponents riled up. That's their fault, not his.

I've yet to come across anyone who buys into the Delly is dirty talk,and a few people I've spoke with are non-Cavs fans to boot.

As much media attention this has gotten, I am sympathizing with Delly. Burn the guy because he's out hustling people making millions more than him, yeah real logical

My favorite was when Horford basically said that he should not dive for balls on the court because he has a duty to take care of his fellow players.

Really?

This is exactly what Horford said ..... and it's just amazing:

"We're out there competing," he said. "But he's gotta learn, I mean he's only been in this league for a couple of years or whatever, but he's gotta learn that at the end of the day it's a big brotherhood here. Guys look out for each other and, I don't think that it was malicious, but he's gotta learn."

He has to learn what, exactly? That he should let the stars do what they want, and enjoy his very short career, that would be even shorter if Delly did as Horford suggests? Horford dragged Delly, not the other way around. Where was Horford's responsibility to Delly? How about the Hawks player falling on the ground, and Delly being tripped by him? What about his responsibility?

It is nice when these players see responsibility as something others have for them, and not the other way around.

I understand why Horford was upset in the heat of the moment, things happen very fast and Delly did land on his lower leg... not that it is a reason to give him a flying chicken wing to the neck, but I understand why he was upset.... But Horford did have Delly's arm locked up in his own in an attempt to keep him from being able to reach for the ball and he as basically dragging him along with him... so he is at least partially responsible for Delly losing his balance and falling into his leg.

This passive aggressive attempt to hold another players arms either to control their movement or to attempt to get the foul called on THEM instead of you, seems to be something that has become very common in the NBA, it led to Love's injury, it almost led to Horford's injury and it has been the cause of a number of near fights involving other teams in the playoffs.

If there is a rule to be made, forget hacking players who can't make free throws, this arm lock thing needs to be made a more serious violation. It's hard to see during the play, but it's usually pretty easy to see in replay.. if they want to do something about injuries, punish it.

Especially when you consider what a natural reaction to someone grabbing your arm is..