During the NBA Finals Game 4 on June 11, the Golden State Warriors' power forward David Lee, 32, and guard Stephen Curry, 27, had an unfriendly encounter with the Cleveland Cavaliers' point guard and shooting guard Matthew Dellavedova, 24.
Dellavedova was caught by the camera bumping into Lee as the first quarter closed. The two were seen exchanging words while Curry, who was nearby, shouted something toward Dellavedova.
On June 13, Saturday, Lee refused to give specific details of the altercation but still spoke about it for the first time. He said it was Delladova who initiated the conversation and the Cleveland Cavaliers player took him "almost by surprise at first."
"While I'm not a guy that gets into a lot of that stuff, I'm obviously going to stick up for myself," Lee explained, as Mercury News quoted him as saying adding that he has no problem with Delladova's approach to the game and he loves his "toughness out there and how hard he plays."
Lee also said that he no hard feelings as it was "just something that happened throughout the course of the game." For him, he just took a screen that he set, which was a legal screen, and Delladova did not like the screen.
The NBA Finals Game 4 battle between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers on June 11 ended with 103-82 in favor of Lee and Curry's team. The game averaged an 11.7 rating on ABC, which was the best since the 2004 game between the Detroit Pistons and the Los Angeles Lakers.
After straining his left hamstring in the pre-season, Lee sparingly played as the Golden State Warriors rolled to 67 victories in the regular season and his past as a two-time All-Star appeared to be more of a stigma, New York Times noted.