WITH LeBron James, Tristan Thompson and Kyrie Irving riding the pine, Aussie guard Matthew Dellavedova took centre stage as the Cleveland Cavaliers continued their unbeaten run through NBA pre-season.

media_camera Kevin Love proved hard to stop.

The 24-year-old did his best to impress coach David Blatt and push for more game time when season proper gets underway with a big role in the 106-100 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

Starting his second successive game, the former college star played a game high in minutes and dished off an equal game-high nine assists.

He also picked up five rebounds to follow the six he pulled down against Miami Heat two days before.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer was clearly impressed with the outing, saying Dellavedova’s ‘calm and steady play’ took the heat out of many dangerous situations.

“Matthew Dellavedova started his second consecutive game at the point and moved the ball well from east to west, finishing with a game-high in assists to go along with five rebounds. He is slowly solidifying the backup point guard duties with his calm and steady play.”

The 193cm guard did a particularly good job keeping 2.11m Giannis Antetokounmpo quiet, restricting the highly-rated 19-year-old Greek centre to just four points in more than 22 minutes on court.

Dellavedova, despite giving up 7 inches, has outplayed Giannis on both ends of floor. — Greg Swartz (@CavsGregBR) October 15, 2014

I am currently watching 7'0 PG Giannis Antetokounmpo being guarded by 6'4" Matthew Dellavedova. #TheStruggleIsReal — Tyler Smith (@KY_Heartbeat) October 15, 2014

I'm telling you, Matthew Dellavedova is the real deal. He's gonna be a good role player this year. — Dwight Thompson (@ThompsonDiesel2) October 15, 2014

Dellavedova played an average of 17 minutes last season as the Cavaliers finished with a 33-49. A roster reconstruction, featuring the arrival of James and Kevin Love among other luminaries, could limit his court time even more, so a good pre-season is vital to his prospects.

The Aussie star can expect more playing time in the next game on Thursday (EDT) when they play the Indiana Pacers.

Originally published as Dellavedova leads way for LeBron-less Cavs