Danilo Gallinari did not have a fun start to the season. He played in the Clippers’ first nine games, but his scoring efficiency dropped hard off a cliff, and he shot around 30% from the field before mercifully getting injured. Unfortunately for the Clippers, the team was sort of counting on having his scoring or at least the threat of his scoring, and their ten-game losing streak roughly coincided with the time Gallinari spent chilling out on the bench in a suit.
I would consider this game to be Gallinari’s second good game of the season (he had a decent one during his early rough stretch), but he’s going to need to have a lot more of these types of games to raise his field goal percentage (34.5%) and three-point percentage (25.8%) out of the tar pits. Luckily, there’s some dude named Blake Griffin who is also injured, so the only people competing with Gallinari for shots are Lou Williams and Austin Rivers.
Actually, that might not be so good for Gallinari. During his successful seasons with the Nuggets, he was always just one of many potent offensive threats. On this team he can force as many shots as he wants without remorse. DTB’S OFFICIAL PREDICTION: Gallinari ends the season shooting below 40% from the field.