By MARC BERMAN
SAN FRANCISCO – Mike D’Antoni kept rookie Danilo Gallinari in the starting lineup for tonight’s game vs. the Warriors in Oakland after his bust of a starting debut.
However, Wilson Chandler returned to the bench in favor of Quentin Richardson. Jared Jeffries again was made a reserve.
“Don’t ask me why, I don’t know,” D’Antoni said at the morning shootaround at SportsClub LA on Market Street in downtown SF.
Gallinari played just 13 minutes Sunday in his first career start. He hit two early deep treys from the corner but lost his playing time in the second half when he was on the court for the Blazers’ early third-quarter run that topped out with a Portland 17-point lead. Tim Thomas led the charge back, so Gallinari was finished.
D’Antoni made the point he’s more concerned about who finishes because that’s been their problem – lack of late-game heroics. Would love to see the Italian Stallion on the court, game on the line. Hasn’t happened yet.
Gallinari won’t face Golden State’s fellow Italian, Marco Belinelli. Gallinari has told Italian reporters he’s not crazy about the Italian Stallion nickname given to him by The Post. He says Belinelli, a dead ringer for Rocky, deserves it more.
As I type this, I’m in a famed Italian espresso shop in North Beach, sipping Italian espresso, watching an Italy vs. Brazil “football” friendly. It doesn’t get better than that and I’m not even Italian.
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The joke at shootaround was Mike Breen was called in to mediate the Van Gundy-D’Antoni war. Breen calls games with Van Gundy on ABC and are tight. Breen and D’Antoni emerged from shootaround side by side, with a cease fire expected to be announced during a Washington D.C. press conference tomorrow. I just got the ABC transcript and it’s worse than was told.
VG on ABC: “They go 0-3 in the week and David Lee says, at the end of the week, this is the best 0-3 week I’ve ever had. He’s had plenty of opportunities with the Knicks so far to be 0-3 in a week, and I cannot believe a professional player would say something like that. That has to be discouraging to the management of the New York Knicks. That’s uncalled for. That’s appalling.”
Ouch. VG is also quoted in his online fan newsletter that Lee “sent the wrong message to your teammates and fans.”
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While we’re still seeking a Crawford point total tonight, Al Harrington will be a driven man too after his bout with Don Nelson led to his exodus. Hopefully AH doesn’t shoot the game away. After careful analysis and study of videotape of Crawford for the past five seasons, I’m predicting this line tonight:
40 points, 14 of 33 shooting (4-10 on 3 pointers) 8-10 from the free throw line, 2 assists, 3 rebounds, 3 turnovers.
