Spurs vs Cavaliers: Mathew Dellavedova starts in a game that features 3 Aussies

Mathew Dellavedova again is starting for the Cavaliers playing against the San Antonio Spurs.

In the first second of the game Delly draws the foul on the game high scorer Danny Green and the Cavaliers get possession. Delly opens playing D on Parker and obviously its a huge start to a rookie season for the un-drafted Aussie and he hits his first shot of the game, a 3 pointer to keep the Cavs alive early 5-9.

Patty Mills comes off the bench and matches up against Delly at the 6 min mark in the first quarter. Mills drains a 3 taking it out to a 10 point lead at the 5 min mark 11-21. Later in the game we got to see all 3 Aussie's on the floor at the same time. Mills had a good game getting steals and a couple of 3’s by midway in the second.

With the Spurs up 29 points Aaron Baynes gets some court time. Delly and Mills were off though. Closing the half Baynes gets a rebounds and a lays it up on the buzzer but wasn't counted. 65-32 with the Spurs having a commanding lead already

Delly started the second half and a Tim Duncan dunk open the scoring. By the 10min 21sec mark the cavs were already down by 40, 32-72. With the huge lead San Antonios head Coach Popovich sends out the bench and Aaron Baynes gets on the floor .

Jarred Jack hurt his neck and Delly is back on to shoot his free throws and gets both 58-91 2:48. From here Jack wasnt allowed to come back on the Delly played out the rest of the game. Popovich got to choose Delly to shoot the free throws. Delly got a steal and makes the basket in the fast break for his 5^th point in the game and the last point in the quarter going into the last quarter 67-96.

Opening the last quarter their are 3 aussies on the floor Baynes Mills and Delly.

Delly made another intercept and Baynes made a tough shot driving into the inside. In one play Mills

stops Delly driving to the hole with the help of Baynes but the cavs miss an open Delly as the d switched back. They need to work out some smarter basketball and hit the open player. Cav's have a long way to go till they are well rounded team. With the game in the bag for the Spurs Mathew Dellavedova has been able to show off some of his offensive talent nailing a few little mid range floaters and finally got to show some of his best plays with the on ball screen. Mills made a few triples to close out the game and the spurs win 126-96. Baynes and Delly have a hug and talk after the Buzzer and its awesome to see so many Aussies in the NBA again.

Mathew Dellavadova in 34 minutes had 14 points, 4 steals, 2 assists and 2 rebounds

Patty Mills in 23 minutes had 15 points, 1 steal, 3 assists and 3 rebounds

Aaron Baynes in 21 minutes had 6 points, 2 assists and 5 rebounds

Danny Green top scored the game with 17 points. 

Patty Mills gets good minutes in a depleted Spurs Roster. Career high game's

Patty Mills had another career high game against the Golden State Warriors. In his second chance as a starter he filled the stat sheet with 34 points, 12 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block. The Spurs had an all bench starting 5 and Mills finished the night getting 43 minutes on the court. This was the highest score for any Australian in the NBA and the highest number of assists for an australian in one game. He really showed what he can do in this game and led the Spurs to the win with some big baskets down the stretch."Chances don't come up very often where you send your three big dogs back to San Antonio," Mills said. "I was very pumped to have this opportunity. I felt very comfortable to just slide in there and take it on with both hands."
Here is the highlights from the game. Lets hope after this performance he can get some playoff court time.

He has ended the regular season averaging 10.3 points per game and is not bad for a third string point guard.

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Phoenix Suns 110-106 on April 25th. The Spurs have won 23 from their last 26 games and have guranteed the No.1 western conference playoff spot going into the finals. They played with a depleted line up to rest their stars going into the finals. They sent Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili home to rest as well as head coach Gregg Popovich. This gave assistant coach Brett Brown the ability to give some of the other players a chance off the bench, giving Patty Mills a big shot at showing what he could do as a point guard in the starting line up.
"It's one of those funny situations, end of the season and resting guys," Mills said. "As crazy as it is, it does make a lot of sense. I thought for the main guys to go back and recharge the batteries before the playoffs, that's a chance to give the other guys a great opportunity."
Mills was on court for 35 mins, scored 27 points with a low 9 of 23 field goals and 3 of 8 three pointers. He also finished with a decent 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal.
It may however have been Suns star point guard and 2 time league MVP Steve Nash's final game with the suns or final game in the NBA. The Crowd responded rising in the chant of "we want Nash" over and over till coach Alvin Gentry sent the 38 yr old back onto the court.
"It was obviously amazing to get that type of reception and support," Nash said. "It's very special because it's not something I asked for or imagined to get that type of spontaneous reaction. It means it's authentic, the relationship that I thought we had."
With just 17 minuts on the court Nash finished with 8 points 7 assists and 3 rebounds. Closing out the season second in the league for assists behind Rajon Rondo who is averaging 10.8 assists per game.
It will be interesting to see what Nash chooses to do next season as he is still playing some very good basketball.
Patty Mills had a good game as his first role as a starter but may have a second chance as the Spurs will continue to rest their stars for their next game against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

Highlights from the game can be seen below.

Patty Mills making a good start with the Spurs

Patty Mills has made a good start with the San antonio Spurs. It was a good pick for the spurs not spending much and picking up a good player who can hit the three and control the ball to the level of their star point guard Tony Parker. Patty Mills in his first 6 games is averaging 9.2 points per game at 54% from the field and 43% from the 3 point line.
On the defensive end his speed makes him able to pick up any player on the court but his diminutive size makes guarding bigger guards and mismatches that much harder.
His time in the NBL has increased his basketball IQ and shown what it takes to be a team leader. On the spurs he is bench player but that time in Australia increased his decision making abilities to not always go for the first shot and looking for a better play. He is no longer shooting to early in the possession unless its in transition and his open, but still racking up the points when he gets a chance
His had two 4 assists games so far and on his biggest game yet this season scored 20 points and 4 assists against the cleveland caveliers. His highlights from that game can be seen below. Even on off shooting nights as against Utah he still managed 9 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds and 1 steal stacking up the stat sheet. He still has 12 games left for the rest of the regular season and lets hope his consistency continues and he keeps getting the minutes to show what he can do.

Spurs vs Kings Game Mills Plays again

The San Antonio Spurs 117 take down the Sacramento Kings 112 in their 6th straight win. Also winning 9 from their last 10 games. Patty Mills was on the court and played 6min 28 sec and making 3 of his 5 field goals scoring 7 points for his limited time on the court. Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 20 points, Kawhi Leonard had 19 points and 9 rebounds, Tim Duncan had 18 points and 8 rebounds, Gary Neal had 13 points and Tony Parker had 10 points and 10 assists. But this is good for the young Australian Point Guard being part of a good winning team and will hopefully continue to get more minutes as he gets time to train with his team mates.

Patty Mills to the Spurs

Patty Mills is finally getting to play again. He's been recruited by the San Antonio Spurs and should be playing when he can get his visa sorted. The Spurs star point guard Tony Parker injured his hamstring in the recent game against Minnesota and if the move works out Mills should be on the court in the coming games. The assistant coach of the Spurs is Brett Brown the Australian coach. Patty Mills plays under Brett Brown with the Boomers which probably got him the job.

Patty has been in limbo since his controversial dismissal from the Xinjiang Flying Tigers in China and has been itching to play some ball. There were even rumours of him suiting up in Australia's South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) but that was exaggerated hype there is no way a NBA player would play a bush league like the SEABL. It will be good to see Mills back on the court. Hopefully he'll stay a regular member this time.

UPDATE:
The San anotonio Spurs announced today that Patty Mills has got his Visa sorted and will be playing tonight. Mills will be wearing the No. 8 jersey and is expected to get some court time in todays game against the Phoenix Suns. Heres some highlights of his time with the Portland Trailblazers.

The San Antonio Spurs got up over the Pheonix Suns today 107-100. Patty Mills played just under 5 min and got 1 rebound and 1 foul. Was put in just to put some extra pressure on Steve Nash and give Tony Parker a few minutes rest. Mills wasnt able to train with the Spurs as his visa was still not sorted. Hopefully once he gets some training in with his new team he will get some more minutes on the court and maybe rack up some better stats.