LAS VEGAS – Knicks rookie Danilo Gallinari can stand to eat a few canolis.
In the most illustrative play of Gallinari’s mixed-bag debut, Cavaliers center Tractor Traylor backed in on Gallinari and sent the 6-foot-10 small forward flying to the floor, allowing an uncontested layup in the second quarter.
It was all part of a miserable first half for the 19-year-old Gallinari, who looked light as a feather and raised questions on whether he’ll be overpowered on defense.
Mike D’Antoni summed up all Knicks’ fans worries when he said, “Well, I was worried the first half,” D’Antoni said. “He got called for three, four fouls, you walk. But he righted the ship.”
The Italian Stallion was scoreless during a foul-plagued half, looking confused on both ends. But after missing his first five shots, he turned it on in the last two quarters, scoring all 14 of his points in the final 13 minutes to finish a respectable 5-of-11 from the field with six rebounds. But yesterday’s performance hardly shouted he’s ready to make a big impact as a rookie.
“He’ll have to get stronger,” D’Antoni said. “He won’t back down. He has some strength issues, but that will come naturally. I’d be worried if he couldn’t pass. Strength is not very hard to fix.”
Gallinari picked up a foul on the opening possession hacking Mike Green 25 feet from the basket. He committed his second foul, on an illegal pick moments later.
“The referees are different; I was just trying to figure it out,” Gallinari said. “This kind of fouling in Europe are not fouls. I will adapt my game to it.”
Gallinari shot 0-for-4 in the half, including an airball, made three turnovers, including a palming violation. Gallinari finally made his first basket with 2:15 left in the third quarter on a 15-footer. And then he caught fire.
Gallinari scored eight points in the final 2:15 of the third, heating up from the perimeter. He also scored on a potent putback dunk and layup off a pretty crossover. Gallinari was taken out late because he banged his knee and also said he had a sore back from the two-a-days.
“Part of it was the flow of the game, it just didn’t happen for him,” Knicks summer-league coach Phil Weber said. “Strength is an issue and as he gets older he’ll fill out. If you’ve seen rookies before, they’ll look unbelievable and then they’ll struggle. He showed some flashes.”
D’Antoni was impressed Gallinari battled back.
“His poise and his character is one of the big reasons we drafted him that high (sixth),” D’Antoni said. “Obviously he’s not close to a finished product. But we got time to wait.”
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Under-the-gun Stephon Marbury, sporting his new head tattoo of his Starbury 3 logo, sat on Knicks bench in dark shades, looking unworried. But a reporter from Italy told D’Antoni in Italian he liked Marbury and the Knicks coach laughed and retorted in Italian, “You like Marbury?”