Basketball On The Internet.

MATTHEW Dellavedova is continuing to do Australia and Maryborough proud while shocking the naysayers with his continued growth as an NBA player with Cleveland.

The Cavs took another 98-91 home bruise to Washington Wizards today but Cleveland coach Mike Brown was quick to single out our Delly.

“We didn't compete. We had one guy compete the entire time he was on the floor - Matthew Dellavedova,” Brown said.

“I'm going to find guys who are going to play hard.”

The Cavs sliced into the Wizards' 27-point lead once Brown benched his starters and relied on Dellavedova, Jarrett Jack, Henry Sims, Anderson Varejao and the recently benched Dion Waiters.

They still trailed 67-84 when Kyrie Irving returned with 7:33 left, but he scored 13 consecutive points and 18 for the quarter.

Irving's scoring, Dellavedova's gritty defence and timely shots pulled the Cavs within four a few times in the final couple of minutes, but they couldn't get any closer.

Brown isn’t keen to juggle the lineup again so soon after a demoralising loss, having already shuffled it the last time he felt like he wasn't getting a good effort.

Frankly, he doesn't have many moves left, short of starting Henry Sims, Dellavedova and Varejao alongside Irving and Tristan Thompson.

The bench crew, consisting of undrafted rookie Dellavedova and a fringe NBA player in Sims, were key in chopping down the Wizards' lead.

Asked whether he was having difficulty reaching this team, Brown said: “It's a young team. You're going to go through ups and downs with a young team.

“Some nights you may get it, some nights you may not get it. I feel like they're listening, they have responded, but to go through lulls like that or lulls like we did in Minnesota, I'm not going to sit back and watch it.

“We'll find someone who can go out and compete and play the right way for us.”

Oh but for some more “Aussies” like Delly and Irving, eh?

SPEAKING NBA and Aussies, what’s up with Kiwi centre Steven Adams?

New Zealand's rising NBA star says his “life mission” is to make the lives of Australians miserable - and it's all Greg Chappell's fault.

WTH?

It was more than 32 years ago the “tired and emotional” Aussie cricket captain ordered his younger brother Trevor to deliver an underarm ball to NZ’s Brian McKechnie for a one-day series victory.

Adams was born 12 years later but the 213cm improvement on the Craig Bradshaw blueprint reckons he now has to make Aussies miserable.

He had that mentality last week as his Oklahoma City Thunder clashed with Andrew Bogut’s Golden State Warriors, having to be separated from the Boomers centre and threatened with tech fouls.

“They cheated us from winning,” Adams told AAP, referring to the underam incident.

“So from then on it just doesn't matter how nice you are - if you're an Aussie, we're not going to like you.

“I search out Aussies and make it my job to make their lives miserable.”

Really?

At 20, Adams should get plenty of opportunities to explore his underarm-fuelled rage in future Tall Blacks-Boomers games.

Chances are he’ll meet Bogut a few times too.

In case you were interested, GSW won the game 116-115.