By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Bad timing for both Danilo Gallinari and the Italy senior national team. The summer signing of the Boston Celtics hurt his left knee, early in the fourth quarter of the 2023 FIBA World Cup European Qualifiers Group L game versus Georgia in Brescia.
“This win counts for nothing compared to what happened to Gallo today,” Italy head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco made it clear after guiding his team in overcoming the challenging situation, “Over the recent weeks, we all saw how happy he was to play with this group. For me, it is an honor to train one of the best players in the history of Italian basketball. Even tonight on the court, he was a pleasure for everyone to see.”
Gallinari, 34, went all the way up to 17 points behind 6/7 field goals in 15 minutes before getting injured. He will be reevaluated within the next hours, as announced by the Italian Basketball Federation and relayed by the senior national team selector.
“We have to wait a few hours. Of course, we are all praying that the injury is not serious,” added Pozzecco, “With Gallo, we could have won the EuroBasket. But I am not sad. If he is not with us, we will fight even more for him. He deserved and deserves to be there.”
“It’s not easy to talk about the game because we are still shaken by Danilo’s injury,” noted experienced forward Luigi Datome representing the players, “We hope for the best possible outcome.”
Thanks to a solid display down the stretch and Simone Fontecchio’s clutch plays, Italy pulled off the win against Georgia and jumped to 4-1 in Group L. Up next is the 2022 EuroBasket, set to begin Thursday.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL