National Basketball Association

For St. Mary's coach, Dellavedova makes NBA Finals simply Aus-some

Published Jun. 8, 2015 5:52 p.m. ET

Sam Gardner

(Matthew Dellavedova has become the Cavaliers' unlikely "hero" in the NBA Finals. In Game 3 on Tuesday night, he had 20 points and was all over the floor -- literally -- before winding up in the hospital after the game with severe cramps. FOXSports.com's Sam Gardner spoke to Dellavedova's college coach Randy Bennett for a story originally posted on Monday.)

When Kyrie Irving fractured his left kneecap in Game 1 of the NBA Finals and was lost for the rest of the series, many immediately wrote the Cavs off, in part because the team's backup point guard, Matthew Dellavedova, couldn't possibly be to Cleveland what the All-Star Irving was when he was on the floor.

Randy Bennett knows Dellavedova better than most, however, and knew the Cavs would be in able hands against Golden State with the unheralded 24-year-old reserve running the point.

So when Dellavedova scored nine points in Sunday's 95-93 overtime win in Game 2, including two clutch free throws to give Cleveland the lead for good with 10 seconds left -- oh, and also held league MVP Steph Curry to 19 points on 5-of-23 shooting in the process -- Bennett, the head basketball coach at St. Mary's College, wasn't as surprised as the rest of us.

"Whether it's (Stephen) Curry or (Klay) Thompson he's matched up with, you'd be crazy not to be concerned," Bennett told FOX Sports in a phone interview Monday. "But Matt's a really good competitor, and he's his own man, so he's going to approach it the right way and his head will be in the right place. And he's going to do a good job and give himself and his team the best chance to succeed.

"Does that mean you're going to limit Curry to the game he had every time? No, but I was not surprised that Matt competed the way he did, and he did a good job on him."

Bennett coached Dellavedova from 2009 through the 2012-13 season, as the Gaels -- located in Moraga, 15 miles northeast of Golden State’s Oracle Arena -- reached the NCAA tournament three times. Dellavedova left the school as its all-time leading scorer, and though he went undrafted he was quickly scooped up by the Cavaliers.

It later came out that Cleveland gave him a two-year, $1.3 million contract, including $100,000 guaranteed, a significant chunk of change for an undrafted player and a clear indication the team saw him as part of its future. Two years later, with restricted free agency ahead for Dellavedova this summer, that deal looks like a steal.

If Dellavedova can continue his string of impressive play and somehow help the Cavaliers to an improbable NBA championship, he won't be the first of Bennett's former players to have done so. That title belongs to Patty Mills, who came up huge for the San Antonio Spurs in last year's NBA Finals win over the Miami Heat.

Mills, a second-round pick of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2009, and Dellavedova never played together, but both arrived at St. Mary's by way of Australia, two of several Aussies to play major roles for the Gaels in the last decade during the team's rise, which has seen them make five NCAA tournaments since 2005.

"It was kind of happenstance that we ended up recruiting there," Bennett said. "When I first took the job at St. Mary's (in 2001), we were two players short in August, so I took a kid from Australia named Adam Capcorn, and I really hadn't seen him play. I'd seen a quick video of him a little bit and just kind of went on a couple guys' word. We took him, he showed up and was a really good leader.

"We had a good experience, and (Capcorn) told us about one of his teammates, who ended up being Daniel Kickert, who was the all-time leading scorer here (before Dellavedova), and from there we did pretty good over there. We've had good success and good experience, and we continued to recruit there, and it turned into a nice pipeline for us.

"So eventually we got Delly because of that, and Patty came for those reasons, too. Patty was good, and he knew Delly, so that's how it works."

Now, Bennett says he feels more like a father than a coach when he watches his former stars play for NBA championships.

St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett.

"It's tremendous pride on so many different levels, but it's almost like watching your kid play," Bennett said. "When you watch your kid, at least for me, your own son, you can't relax. You're, like, gripping on every play, and that's how it is when I watch Patty and Delly on a stage that's so big. It's everything. You're nervous, you're proud, you're excited, you're like a fan. It's not just like watching the NBA playoffs with nobody involved. You have to be totally involved."

On Sunday, an end-of-season party for one of his sons' basketball teams kept Bennett from seeing Dellavedova's coming-out party in person, but it didn't keep him from rooting on his guy, even if it put him in the minority among his guests. And when Dellavedova secured the offensive rebound that led to the game-winning free throws, Bennett couldn't contain his excitement amid of group of Golden State supporters.

"Usually he doesn't go to the offensive boards, but the game was late and he's pretty smart on those things," said Bennett, who said he plans on being there in person when the Cavs and Warriors return to Oakland on Sunday for Game 5.

"I'm sure his responsibility is usually to get back, but at that point, you've got to get a bucket because the clock is winding down. It kind of surprised me that he came out of it with the ball --it happened so quick I didn't see it coming -- but the fact that he made the right play and had a nose for the ball and came up with it, it never surprises me. He's good on those things.

"I was outnumbered, by the way," Bennett added, of the party. "There were a lot of Warriors fans."

That's the case throughout Northern California, no doubt, but at St. Mary's, there's a small group of the biggest Spurs and Cavs backers you're apt to meet. Both Mills and Dellavedova have their numbers retired at the school and have earned at least that much respect around their former campus.

"Those two guys, in particular, are great basketball players, but they're also really good people," said Bennett, who says he texts with Dellavedova every couple days but hasn't talked to him on the phone. "They give back and have been class acts their whole lives, so it's easy to root for those guys when they're in these situations.

"This is their home away from home. This is their family -- their basketball family, their college family. They're both very loyal guys, both very appreciative guys, and when we retired their numbers, it didn't have anything to do with their NBA careers. We retired Matt's before he'd become a good NBA player, and we did that because they couldn't have done any better.

"They couldn't have represented St. Mary's or the community or the basketball program any better, and I think they would take a lot of pride in saying that they played here."

Moving forward, Bennett says he thinks the Cavs have a better chance than most are giving them in the series, citing their defense, their rebounding, their ability to control the tempo and the fact that they also have "the best player in the world" in LeBron James.

But if Dellavedova somehow can replicate his Game 2 performance in Game 3 Tuesday night, that'll be gravy -- as it was in Game 4 last year when Mills erupted for 14 points in the third quarter of San Antonio's Game 4 win -- and Bennett, like everyone else around the Gaels program, will be ecstatic.

"You want them to do so well, so when Matt misses a shot, you say to yourself, 'Ah, come on Matt,' " Bennett said. "You want him to come through, and it's tough. The level they're playing at is just an unbelievable level, and to be in that game, be in that series -- it's so hard to get there, to be on a team that gets there.

"So for Patty and Delly to be on teams in the playoffs, you're proud and then they're in the rotation, and then they contribute and play well. They're making so many people proud around here, and not just me and the coaches, but our players, our former players, our students, the Moraga community, the Bay Area ..."

Bennett stops.

"Actually," he corrects himself. "I'm not sure the Bay Area appreciates it as much as we do right now."

You can follow Sam Gardner on Twitter or email him at samgardnerfox@gmail.com.