Veteran Boston Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari leaves the game
Veteran Boston Celtics forward Danilo Gallinari leaves the game against Georgia late due to what appears to be a knee injury.
According to Emiliano Carchia of Sporteando, veteran forward Danilo Gallinari of the Boston Celtics left a FIBA World Cup qualifying game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Should the injury be severe, both Italy's and the Celtics' aspirations on the court may have been severely hampered in the matchup between his Italian National Team and the Georgian national team.
Gallinari lost consciousness late in the final frame of the match due to an injury. At this time, it is unknown how serious Gallinari's knee problem is, but the play's image do not look good.
The Italian forward is expected to play a significant role in the Celtics' postseason push to make it back to the NBA Finals in 2023 after signing with them as a free agent on a mini-midlevel exception.
If he is able to play this season, the team can survive his extended absence without serious risks to their chances of winning the championship, but if he is unable to do so, the boost he would be expected to provide during the regular season would suffer if he missed a significant amount of time.
The Oklahoma City Thunder's Chet Holmgren will miss the 2022–23 season after suffering a ligament injury in the CrawsOver Pro-Am, so let's hope Gallinari avoids a similar fate in an offseason that has already seen a player lost for the entirety of the following season for play in non–NBA contexts.
A pair of well-known Boston Celtics players were outscoring rival teams on Friday, August 12 in Bologna, Italy, according to Eurohoops' reporting. Teams in Europe were playing exhibition games before their upcoming Eurobasket qualifying matches.
Italian National Team forward Danilo Gallinari, a new Celtics player, scored 13 points in a 78-77 loss to the French National Team, the 2020 Olympic silver medalists. Former Boston Celtics center Vincent Poirier led France with 14 points and 11 rebounds on the other side of the court.
Before getting hurt, Gallinari, 34, had gotten as far as 17 points behind 6/7 field goals in 15 minutes. The senior national team selector has relayed information from the Italian Basketball Federation that he will undergo another evaluation within the next few hours.
"We need to wait for a while. Of course, we are all hoping the injury is not severe," Pozzecco continued. "Gallo would have helped us win the EuroBasket. But I'm not dejected. If he doesn't stick with us, we'll fight even harder to keep him. He deserved to be there and he did.
Experienced forward Luigi Datome spoke for the players, saying, "We hope for the best outcome. It's not easy to talk about the game because we are still shaken by Danilo's injury."
Italy defeated Georgia and improved to 4-1 in Group L thanks to a strong final performance and clutch plays from Simone Fontecchio. The 2022 EuroBasket will start on Thursday as the next event.
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