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Lets get right to it:
Danilo Gallinari out for the season with a torn ACL.
As we discussed earlier, Danilo Gallinari went down last night with what appeared to be a torn ACL in the first half of last night’s 95-94 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Today, CBS Sports’ Ken Berger wrote on twitter that Gallinari’s MRI confirmed the injury was a torn left ACL. While the win was Denver’s 19th straight at home, it appears to have been a Pyrrhic victory as Gallinari will be sidelined for the rest of the season. Gallinari was Denver’s second leading scorer on the season with 16.2 points per game.
While Denver is probably the deepest team in the league, the loss of Gallinari deals a huge blow to their playoff chances. The team has already been playing without leading scorer Ty Lawson (16.7), who is out with a slight tear in his right plantar fascia. Lawson is however expected to return in time for the postseason.
In Gallinari’s absence, the team will certainly need role players such as Wilson Chandler and Corey Brewer to step up their scoring totals if the team has any chance of making a postseason run.
Rick Pitino headlines 2013 Hall of Fame selections.
From ESPN New York’s Ian O’Connor: Louisville Head Coach Rick Pitino has won induction to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2013. Pitino is currently coaching his seventh appearance in the Final Four, coaching the Louisville Cardinals. He won the national championship in 1996 with a Kentucky Wildcats team that was led by Antoine Walker, Tony Delk, and Walter McCarty. Pitino boasts an all time college record of 662-239. He also had moderate success in his six seasons as a head coach in the NBA. With the Knicks, Pitino inherited a 24-win Knicks team in 1987-1988 and turned them into 52-win team in only two seasons.
Nine-time All-Star Gary Payton, former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian, and former Houston coach Guy Lewis will join Pitino in the Class of 2013.
Gregg Popovich “really concerned” about Tony Parker’s leg.
According to Jeff Caplan at NBA.com, Gregg Popovich does not know what to make of Tony Parker’s unspecified leg injury from last night. The Spurs lost 100-88 blowout Oklahoma City and Tony Parker left the court in the fourth quarter limping. Parker ended the night with a season-low 2 points and shot just 1-6 from the field.
“I’m really concerned about Tony right now after seeing his situation tonight where he just had to stop,” Popovich said. “My feeling is tendinitis, something in his shins or whatever, from the way it looked on the court. But I don’t know. I got to see what’s going on. I got to see what the deal is. We thought he had just kind of recovered from his ankle, so this was something new tonight with his leg. I just don’t know what it is right now.”
The Spurs are already playing without Manu Ginobili for the remainder of the regular season. If last night was any indication, San Antonio cannot afford to play without Parker and Ginobili in the playoffs.
