Danilo Gallinari leads Eastern Conference in December for the Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks have been well served by their bench during their injury crisis, utilizing their experienced players to great effect. With the injury to Solomon Hill, the experience and the leadership of Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams were catalysts for them to win during this period.
December was a good month for the big Italian where prior to the Brooklyn Nets game, Gallinari was averaging 16.0 points per game, this led the Eastern Conference in bench point production for the month.
This number tied him for the second-most in the entire league per Hawks PR which shows that he has had a truly incredible month. Given that he was struggling so much at the start of the season that he was a prime trade candidate, this has been a tremendous turnaround. The veteran has been in the league for a long time, so it was only natural that he would start to produce again.
The Atlanta Hawks have needed Danilo Gallinari in other areas as well
The Hawks have been playing around with their rotations out of necessity as they are missing so many wings. Gallinari has been playing as a bigger wing but also has played both the power forward and the center positions as well at times.
He has averaged 5.8 rebounds per game during the month which is helpful as the Hawks are not using Gorgui Dieng much, with the exception of the Minnesota Timberwolves game. This has allowed John Collins to concentrate on rim protection, as he knows that Gallinari will be there to collect the rebound.
Next. The Hawks are not losing because of Kevin Huerter. dark
Likewise, Gallinari is also moving the ball effectively which is helping his scoring. He is averaging 2.2 assists per game for the month so far which is almost double what he was averaging prior to December. He is stepping up his game to help keep the Hawks in games. Unfortunately, they are missing too many players through injury and as such are struggling to close out games.