Danilo Gallinari stopped waiting and played on Friday night for first time since Apr. 4, 2013. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
Friday night was the best loss in Brian Shaw’s short career with the Nuggets. It was simultaneously the best night Danilo Gallinari had in a year-and-a-half. Those two scenarios are intertwined.
The Nuggets had been, and will continue to be, cautious with Gallinari. But in returning from a marathon torn-ACL saga, he answered a lot of questions and alleviated a lot of concerns about what kind of player he’d return to be – in just 14 power-packed minutes.
The line: 17 points and four rebounds in 14 minutes. Gallinari shot 5-of-9 from the field, 2-of-4 from the 3-point line and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. It was as if he never missed a beat. But perhaps just as important were his rebounds, because they lent credence to the constant assertions that his surgically-repaired knee was at least as good, if not better than before he injured it.
There are other hurdles to get over, no doubt. He’s got to play more minutes, he’s got to play on short rest or in back-to-backs. He’s got to put that knee through month-over-month of stressful playing to see if it is in fact okay. And there is a settling in period as well. Gallinari was no doubt pumped up to get back into action, and the adrenaline carried him to a high quality performance in an extremely important night.
The day before, Gallinari ended a practice by consecutively scoring over every different defender he faced in his six-man group in a one-one-on drill. He flexed out his chest in celebration of the conquest as his teammates whooped and hollered around him.
That was a big moment. Friday night was bigger. Shaw had plans laid out last season for Gallinari’s arrival, only it never came. Friday’s display pushed Shaw from wish list mode to giddy about what a huge future this season has in store. Gallinari was the second-leading scorer on a team that won 57 games that season, when he last hit the hardwood. If he is able to duplicate that success, the Nuggets stand to be much better than NBA prognosticators think they will be.
Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com
