Veteran forward Danilo Gallinari was starting the lineup in a 118–103 win against the Washington Wizards in the Atlanta Hawks (42–38) in the home final of the regular season. The win saves their (very slim) chances of seeded seventh. To get there, they will need a great deal of help from some of their Eastern Conference brothers.
As Mike Conti of 92.9 Game points out, the Hawks could host a play-in game and have two chances to earn the final seed if the Brooklyn Nets beat the Cleveland Cavaliers and then lost to the Indiana Pacers. . Cleveland would also have to lose to Milwaukee.
Of course, the Hawks will have to win in that scenario, which is the only thing they can control at this point and will at least give them their eight-seed share.
In this competition, it was the number 8 who was dialing them early and often.
Danilo Gallinari made his best game of the season in the regular-season home finale of the Atlanta Hawks
Gallinari was not a high scorer for the game. The honor went to Trae Young, who had 30 points, including 14 straights for the good guys at a time, hitting 11-of-12 free throws to go with 11 assists. He almost single-handedly outscored the Wizards in the third quarter, scoring 16 points for his 18.
Still, it was Gallinari, who had just two points in the third quarter, with Bogdan Bogdanovic coming down massively to seal this one. The two had nine points in the final frame, while combining to go 7-of-10 off the floor and 4-of-5 beyond the arc.
Gallinari was 4-for-4, thwarting his only deep attempts.
Hawks are a different team with Gallo back in the lineup.@Gallinari8888 | @laurenjbara pic.twitter.com/RPilIuVFFe
— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) April 7, 2022
He came out of the gate firing eight shots to lead all players in the first quarter, and tied for a team-high 15 points at the break with Clint Capella.
Despite Young's third-quarter blast leading into the game, it was Gallo - who missed four of the last seven games to the Hawks - who came up with the unofficial 'Player of the Game'. The 14-year-old vet confirmed to Atal and host Kevin Chouinard, 29th, that they had found some more wine wine. This time, however, she got the entire bottle, not just one sip.
Nate McMillan said Gallinari is "a big part of what we do" in his postgame presser.
That was certainly the case in this competition as he dropped his best effort of the season by one point to just short of his season-high points. But he shot 57.9 percent from the floor and deep on his way to record his second double-double of the campaign.