Delly's star performance praised

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Derek Rucker believes Matthew Dellavedova's Playoff performance was his best in his NBL tenure.

Derek Rucker has labelled Matthew Dellavedova’s Foot Locker Player of the Game performance against Illawarra on Thursday night as the greatest game played by the NBA champion in a Melbourne United uniform.

United fought back from 16 points down in the final quarter to snatch an overtime win in the opening game of their Playoff Series against Illawarra. Dellavedova led his team in scoring (30 points), assists (10) and steals (four) in the win.

He also pulled in seven rebounds – only Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Luke Travers had more for Melbourne – and only turned the ball over twice.

“He started off hot, I think he hit his first three threes, he was handling the ball,” Rucker said on the Coca-Cola Cool Down.

“I’ve said all along in the second half of the season when I’ve had a Melbourne United game, that Delly was playing at a really good level from a point guard, floor general, court leader position, but tonight he had the offensive punch and the ability to score points.

“It was a sensational performance and his best performance in the NBL at the most critical time for his team.

“Essentially, he kept their season afloat.”

Melbourne’s win isn’t the final nail in the coffin of Illawarra’s remarkable fairy tale season though. The Hawks will head back to the WIN Entertainment Centre to face United in the second game of the series, where a United win would spell curtains on the Hawks’ campaign.

Illawarra has won its last four home games in NBL24, in a run which includes the do-or-die Play-In Game victory over New Zealand last week.

“This is the beauty of Playoff basketball, it’s a three-game series and it’s not over until somebody wins two,” Rucker said.

“[Illawarra] will have to go to the drawing board, the coach will look at it and see ‘where do we make some mistakes as a staff’, and the players will have to look at themselves and say ‘where did our performances fall short? Was there a rebound out there I could have got’, obviously they missed shots, some of the decision-making down the stretch was questionable.

“They had a great game the other night down in Wollongong against New Zealand, but that New Zealand team is not this Melbourne United team.”

The second game of the Playoff Series between Illawarra and Melbourne will tip off on Sunday at 3pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.