LeBron defends Dellavedova against dirty player rap: 'He doesn't deserve it and I don't like it'

LeBron James is speaking out against the "dirty player" image being cast on teammate Matthew Dellavedova.

After the Cleveland Cavaliers notched yet another victory over the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday, James fielded questions about the second-quarter dust-up between Dellavedova and Hawks center Al Horford that saw Horford ejected.

"I'm a little bit off about it because this is my guy, this is my teammate, and this is a guy that goes out and works his tail off every single night and people are trying to give him a bad rap," James explained. "He doesn't deserve it and I don't like it."

Horford earned himself a Flagrant-2 when he dropped a wicked elbow on Dellavedova after the Cleveland guard tripped and fell into the center's right leg.

Dellavedova's gritty style of play had already dealt the Hawks a major blow. The Australian native took out Atlanta sharpshooter Kyle Korver on Saturday with a roll onto his ankle, forcing him from Game 2 and the rest of the playoffs.

Despite the two injuries in quick succession causing people to smear Dellavedova's reputation, James defended his teammate in both situations.

Well, you just play the game the right way. At this point, you try to do whatever it takes to win. You don't want to hurt nobody. No one, I think, in our league goes around trying to hurt people. But you don't take the aggressive nature out of the game.

I think in the case of (Dellavedova), ever since you were a kid, the ball on the floor, the first man to the floor usually gets the ball. There's no difference to what Delly did to Kyle Korver last game and 18 guys diving on the floor late in the game tonight. It was like six or seven guys diving on the floor for that loose ball. Delly was on the floor, J.J. was on the floor, Mike Scott was on the floor, Shump was on the floor, J.R. was on the floor. Just no one got hurt.

At the end of the day, it's a box-out, no matter who does it, explained James.

There's no difference between me boxing out, or Al Horford boxing me out and Delly boxing someone out. That is a fundamental box-out. That's all it is. And we all know that. We don't never want to play with the integrity of the game and try to get people hurt. That's not what it's about. Because we all want brotherhood at the end of the day, an NBA family. But you play to win the game and you play aggressively. That's what it's about.

Dellavedova, James, and the rest of the Cleveland crew will have a chance to sweep the series in Game 4 on Tuesday night.