The Denver Nuggets received awful news on forward Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari left injured at the end of the third quarter of Friday’s loss against the Dallas Mavericks. He suffered a right ankle sprain. On Monday an MRI showed two ligament tears in the ankle. Gallinari could miss the entire home stand which started Monday and ends on March 12th. He is out for an extended period of time. According to ESPN, Head Coach Michael Malone said, “I feel bad for him. He was having a career year. It’s always tough when you lose a player like Gallo for us because we’re so young and he gives us so many things. But just for him, as a young man, because that’s a lot to handle, and for him to hurt it and be out for a long period of time, it’s not good for any of us. But we’ll support him in every way we can, and hopefully he can come back even better.”
This is a big loss for the Nuggets. Gallinari is the Nuggets’ best shooter. They are going to miss his play. Gallinari leads Denver in scoring at 19.5 points per game and he logs 34.7 minutes per game. Those are his best numbers as a Nugget. The points per game are the most in his career. He can also rebound at 5.3 rebounds per game. Gallinari is also the leader on this basketball team.
Denver will need the team as a whole to step up. Will Barton is vital for Denver’s success while Gallinari is out of the lineup. He becomes the Nuggets’ leading scorer and must match the production of Gallinari for Denver to win some games.
On the defensive end, Gallinari was excellent at boxing out. That will force Kenneth Faried and Nikola Jokic to pick up their play. They need to box out on the glass so that opponents can’t have the second or third chance opportunities to score or go on the fast break.
The Nuggets will replace Gallinari, but it won’t be easy. It will take the whole team to do so. They have to adjust to play without their leading scorer. Denver must play well without him in order to win games.
How will the Nuggets do with Gallinari out of the lineup?
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