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Ira
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Also from draftexpress.com
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Roundup-Gallinari-Dominates/
Roundup: Gallinari Dominates
January 29, 2008
It’s becoming increasingly usual to see Danilo Gallinari producing almost at will regardless of who he goes up against. His skill repertoire, knowledge of the game and physical gifts propose a devastating equation that hardly anybody can consistently contest. Just consider that he’s living in the 20+ point mark for the last five games now, combining both the Euroleague and the Italian Lega. The run includes last week’s defeat against the Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, where Gallinari carried his team’s offensive load with 27 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, and the comfortable victory over Scavolini Spar Pesaro, that only required him to spend 26 minutes on court, but was still enough to come up with 20 points and 6 rebounds.
We could watch his Euroleague outing against Maccabi, a fantastic offensive show for him. He was the clear-cut go-to guy for his team, the one responsible for keeping them alive for much of the game, but unfortunately he didn’t emerge as clutch as he often does. Anyway, again his superb slashing ability was responsible of much of the damage he caused on his opponents, both in the form of layups/dunks and forced fouls that sent him to the stripe multiple times.
However, other stuff deserves attention too. Gallinari is a well-known solid shooter. Indeed he made a living off his perimeter stroke during his first year of serious veteran competition (in the Italian second division). In this game, it was interesting to see him creating his own shot in a pure face-up one-on-one setting, using a fake and a dribble to release a successful long-range bomb, but also from the low post with a turnaround jumper, cashing in off his size. He can be pretty quick displaying his mechanics, and he shows a great sense of timing to execute every move while always evaluating his match-up’s reaction. Indeed, he often makes opponents bite on his fakes, forcing many fouls in the process or just paving his way to the basket. That’s logically helped become the dual-threat that he is his with shooting and slashing abilities.
His body control also chimes in there. It’s funny, because at first sight you might get the feeling that his big body might somehow escape his control. But the reality couldn’t be further, as his body perfectly follows his orders. For example, 6-10 guys (his likely size in shoes) running at full speed in transition tend to bump into opponents that step in their way to the basket, but Danilo has no trouble slashing by them, being able to easily change directions on the run. He actually delivered a spectacular coast-to-coast play that included a behind-the-back direction change he executed with his left hand between two opponents at almost full speed. If not the quickest and most reactive guy around, he is pretty fast when he starts moving, which looks obvious when he plays transition ball. His incredibly long strides help a great deal here as well. Just to emphasize that point, he got to the free throw line an astounding 17 times against Teramo last week.
Every game is a door open to amazement. He’s so skilled and fundamentally sound that remarkable plays are bound to happen on a regular basis.
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