CLEVELAND — Randy Bennett sighed and laughed Monday as he considered the rhetorical storm that had been circling his former player Matthew Dellavedova.

Bennett watched Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday, after which Dellavedova, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ backup point guard, defended himself against insinuations that he played without regard for the safety of his opponents, that he used tricks to rile them up. Pundits and fans debated whether Dellavedova — an undrafted, second-year player from Maryborough, Australia — was a dirty player.

The reason was this: For the second time in these playoffs, Dellavedova had been involved in a dust-up that resulted in the ejection of an opposing player. On Sunday, it was Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks, who reflexively swung an elbow at Dellavedova’s head after the two players became entangled on the floor.

Afterward, Horford and his teammates insisted that Dellavedova had a “track record.” They referred to an incident earlier in the postseason in which Taj Gibson of the Chicago Bulls was ejected for lashing out at Dellavedova and one in the Hawks’ previous game in which Dellavedova rolled into the legs of Kyle Korver while chasing a loose ball, leaving Korver with a season-ending high-ankle injury.