Danilo Gallinari put up a productive night that helped the Oklahoma City Thunder get the Game 6 victory over the Houston Rockets and force Game 7. After the showdown, OKC head coach Billy Donovan shared that part of their game plan was to maximize Gallinari more.
Gallo chipped in 25 points — his highest point-tally in the series. According to Donovan, he saw what the Rockets have been doing in the previous games and so made a key adjustment involving the Italian.
“Today was trying to get Gallo a little bit more involved,” the Thunder coach said, per Logan Newman of USA Today. “Putting Gallo in some high-screening action, knowing that they were going to switch and then trying to get the floor spaced with Gallo in the high slot.
“We were able to kind of get the floor organized … It’s hard for any really, really great offensive player to operate effectively without really, really good spacing”
From an individual perspective, it was a great bounceback performance from Danilo Gallinari, who just made one point in the Thunder's Game 5 blowout loss. But from a team standpoint, it was a type of production that was greatly needed by a Thunder squad facing elimination.
A chunk of Gallinari's production came in the third quarter. This was when the early momentum belonged to the Rockets, thanks to a couple of baskets from Russell Westbrook. Fortunately, the Thunder remained close, much thanks to Gallinari's 3-point and perimeter shooting. He had a total of 12 points in the period, 40 percent of the team's point total.
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