OKC Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari and Team Italy finish FIBA 2019 with win vs. Puerto Rico
OKC Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari and his Italian team finished their 2019 FIBA campaign with a victory over Team Puerto Rico.
The final match for Team Italy and OKC Thunder Danilo Gallinari of the 2019 FIBA World Cup tournament ended with a victory over Team Puerto Rico.
OKC Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari was clearly one of the leaders of his National team and his final contest in China offered his most complete and productive outing of the tournament. ‘
This last match took overtime to decide with Team Italy winning 94-89. Despite the victory, unfortunately, the two squads who advanced into the quarter-finals from Group J were Team Spain and Team Serbia.
As the score suggests this was an entertaining match with an ebb and flow which witnessed each team steal momentum to capture leads and took overtime to decide. The match was a tale of two halves with Puerto Rico taking the first half. Quarter one Team Puerto Rico won 24 to 13 and they bolstered their 12 point lead to 20 points with a 22 to 13 second quarter.
Coming back from the break the Italian’s flipped the script winning the third quarter 24 to 18 to cut the deficit to 14 points. That final margin was erased in the fourth quarter with Team Italy delivering a 33 point final frame while holding Puerto Rico to 19 points.
In overtime, Danilo Gallinari and his mates outscored their opponent 11 to 6 to win the match.
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On the day, the OKC Thunder big man showcased a complete game registering 22 points, six rebounds, five assists as well as a steal and a block. Additionally, as he did much of the tournament Gallo shot well from the perimeter connecting on three of his seven long range shots.
Marco Belinelli delivered the best scoring with 27 points while the trio of Awudu Abass (14 points), Amedeo Tessitori (12 points) and Paul Biligha (10 points) all chipped in double-digit scoring efforts.
Puerto Rico’s top scorer was Renaldo Balkman with 14 points while Angel Rodriguez and Gary Browne both chipped in 13 points apiece.
Next. How Thunder can capitalize on Gallinari's desire to join contender. dark
This was the final game for Danilo Gallinari and Team Italy who finished the 2019 FIBA World cup with three wins, two losses and seeded tenth in the tournament. This means the Italians didn’t qualify for an Olympic berth and will need to win one of the four wild card tournaments during the season to capture one of the final four open berths to Tokyo, Japan next summer.