{"id":528708,"date":"2026-03-09T11:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/528708\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T11:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:26:09","slug":"third-time-the-charm-for-dellavedova","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/528708\/","title":{"rendered":"Third time the charm for Dellavedova?"},"content":{"rendered":"

AAP.<\/p>\n

Matthew Dellavedova’s latest concussion has only motivated him to go harder on the basketball court as he eyes a first NBL title at the Sydney Kings.<\/p>\n

NBA champion Dellavedova enters Wednesday night’s Playoffs clash with Perth on the back of a disrupted first campaign with Brian Goorjian’s championship favourites.<\/p>\n

The guard was hospitalised and placed on an IV drip amid an infection early in the season, missing more than a month of games, but yet another head knock in January appeared more worrying given his history.<\/p>\n

Dellavedova notably missed 47 NBA games with concussion and a neck injury between 2020 and 2021 as well as a stint early in the 2023\/24 NBL season among other head knocks.<\/p>\n

On-court physicality has become a calling card for Dellavedova, who said he never feared the repercussions of another head knock once he returned from his three-game lay-off this time around.<\/p>\n

“That’s never been an issue for me,” Dellavedova told AAP.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always thought, no matter what the sport, the harder you go, the less likely you are to get hurt.<\/p>\n

“If you’re going in not at 100 per cent or taking a short step, that’s when you’re more likely to get hurt.”<\/p>\n

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Dellavedova has been focusing on upper-body and neck strength in the gym since his return, with the hopes of doing everything he can to prevent more head injuries.<\/p>\n

“In sport, sometimes you’re just a bit unlucky with injuries. You try to just prepare your body as best you can,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Sydney hosts Perth on Wednesday for game one of their best-of-three Playoff Series. The winner advances to the Championship Series against either Adelaide or South East Melbourne.<\/p>\n

With an Olympic bronze medal and NBA ring to his credit, a championship series triumph on home soil appears one of the last big-ticket items on Dellavedova’s basketball bucket list.<\/p>\n

Dellavedova lost the past two championship series playing at Melbourne United and was voted Championship Series MVP in the second of those defeats, memorably handing his award to Illawarra’s Will Hickey after United lost the decisive fifth game.<\/p>\n

“Missing out the last two years is really tough to do,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That (Championship) has been the only goal for this season. You have to do a whole lot of steps to get there, but that’s been the overarching goal for this season for this group.<\/p>\n

“We’ve put ourselves in a good position but everyone starts 0-0 come Wednesday night.”<\/p>\n

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