Studs and duds as the Atlanta Hawks have won three straight road games

Atlanta Hawks dud after third-straight road win: Was Danilo Gallinari’s second-half a sign things are changing?

This entry for Danilo Gallinari comes with a caveat. In the end, the 14-year veteran put up nine points, six rebounds, and three assists in the win over the Pacers. He shot just 33.3 percent from the floor but did go 3-of-6 from three-point range. It was a fairly full stat line minus the poor shooting overall.

So why is Gallo in this space? He did still positively impact the game despite the janky shot.

Well, outside of scoring six points in the third quarter, he had three points the rest of the game making this the third game in a row he’s been below 10 points. He’s just 5-of-20 over the last two games.

Gallinari has averaged 3.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists over that time, so it’s not like he’s checked out. But the Hawks need him to get back to his scoring ways in short order.

It doesn’t help that he was a sieve on defense versus the Pacers, allowing his assignments to shoot over 67 percent of their looks in his defense. Collins allowed the same percentage of opponents’ shots to fall but his defense has been good over this stretch by the Hawks. Gallinari has been one of the worst on the team all season.

His covers have shot 7.5 percent above their season averages on the year. And over the Hawks last nine games, opponents have shot 10.9 percent above average against Gallo.

No one is expecting Gallinari to become a lockdown defender.

He was statistically their worst defender last season. But that does add to the importance of his offense and him knocking down the shots he takes.

Gallinari is shooting a career-low 37.8 percent from the floor this season en route to 7.9 points per game. His 37.3 percent shooting from beyond the arc is his lowest since the 2017-18 season. While not quite as slow as this season, Gallinari did start slow last season before picking it up as things went on.