The Vet Starters
Danilo Gallinari – C+
This was not the best series for Danilo Gallinari. The Italian forward looked out of sorts towards the start of the series and slowly became more of his normal self as it went on. Still, his play in Game 4 really hurt the team in what was otherwise a winnable game. For the six games, he put up 19.8 points on just 35.1% shooting. Yikes. He was able to grab 6.2 rebounds and dished out 2.7 assists.
Gallinari was in a weird spot. For this team, he was the primary option in the starting lineup. On a championship team though, he would likely be best served as the second or third option. Golden State was able to focus on him more, making scoring difficult. Still, this series shouldn’t take away from the great year that Gallo had for us.
Patrick Beverley – A+
The heart and soul of this team, what more could we ask from Patrick Beverley? He played tough defense on Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, knocked down 43.3% of his 5.0 three point attempts per game and led the team in rebounds. Yes, you read that right. The 6’1″ guard led the entire team in rebounds with 8.0 per game.
Beverley motivated this team and did not back down from the Warriors one bit. His passion shined through during the 31 point comeback as the whole team embodied his toughness.
His stats in total for the series: 9.8 points on 42.6% shooting, 4.7 assists, 8.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks.
Beverley will enter unrestricted free agency this summer, but the Clippers should do whatever they can to bring him back as a leader for the team.