After severe cramping, Matthew Dellavedova cancels his pregame coffee routine

The media onslaught that has documented Cleveland Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova’s seemingly unconscionable rise to stardom has gone beyond noticing his fine defensive work, his unfortunate trip to the hospital, or the fact that buildings aren’t being named after him. Now we’re reporting on his breakfast routine.

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OK, maybe not his breakfast routine, but a routine that takes a breakfast staple into the evening hours. One he’s been asked not to keep up in the wake of severe cramping and that hospital visit following Game 3.

Matthew Dellavedova can’t drink coffee before a game anymore. He disclosed as much prior to Thursday’s Game 4, around the same time LeBron James walked into the arena and to his locker room without anyone noticing. From ESPN’s Dave McMenamin:

The Cleveland Cavaliers starting point guard will eschew his tradition of his pregame — and sometimes halftime — cup of joe.

“There will be no coffee tonight,” Dellavedova said after Cavs shootaround Thursday. “It’s not a good thing, probably, for your hydration.”

Dellavedova’s coffee kick is so ingrained in the Cavs’ team fabric that, on occasion, injured center Anderson Varejao will go fetch him a cup and bring it to him in the locker room before tipoff.

Now that’s an addiction. Making the seven-footer with one working leg get you a cup of caffeine.

As one of the rare non-coffee drinkers out there (I humbly submit that, as always, I am the worst), I can fully understand the pangs of withdrawal and the deadening and dehydrating feeling that giving into the odd cup of coffee can bring. It’s a diuretic, a major one, and it can truly dry you out.

Players sneaking coffee in before a game is a common occurrence. Even in the Finals, when travel is limited and game schedules are routine, the idea that you would have to be at your absolute physical and mental best around the same time most people are calling it a night begs for a caffeine splurge. Dellavedova was nailing game-sealing free throws in Game 2 and diving all over the court down the stretch of Game 3 as midnight neared, Cleveland-time, and it makes complete and total sense that this routine would become a habit.

In the regular season, with the constant travel, overnight flights, and tip off times that could line up at what your internal clock believes to be anywhere between 9 AM (for Western powerhouses tipping off for a nooner, Eastern time, on ABC), 4 PM or 10:30 PM, a caffeine boost is almost a necessity. Spitfire former Orlando Magic point guard Darrell Armstrong famously downed several coffees with a half-dozen cubes of sugar in the locker room prior taking his all-out game to the hardwood.

After All-Star Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was knocked out of the series following Game 1, most NBA observers wondered just how well Dellavedova would cope as a replacement. Hardcore NBAniks wondered just how well he’d be able to sustain energy merely guarding Golden State Warriors guard and NBA MVP Stephen Curry – never mind having the legs to hit a wide open three-pointer in the fourth quarter, how was this guy going to even make it to the fourth quarter?

Even with the Cavaliers barely playing seven rotation members in Games 2 and 3, and with reserve point man Joe Harris a memory at this point, Dellavedova has somehow survived. He logged nearly 81 minutes combined in the two Cleveland wins, averaging 14.5 points, five rebounds, 2.5 assists, while shooting 37 percent. Along with those four turnovers per game, these aren’t expert stats, but as LeBron James drags his way through what could be a legendary Finals, it’s been enough. And they don’t even take into account how hellish he’s made life for Stephen Curry. Even following the hospital visit and the cramping, he will not be on a minute limit in Game 4.

According to ESPN, Dellavedova isn’t worried about any let down: