Bargnani outshines Gallinari in Italian showdown

By Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com
Posted Saturday January 16, 2010 12:12AM

NEW YORK (NBA.com exclusive) -- In a battle of "Italian Stallions" on Italian Heritage Night at Madison Square Garden, Andrea Bargnani got the better of countryman Danillo Gallinari.

Bargnani, a 7-foot third-year center from Rome, posted 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Toronto Raptors to a 112-104 victory over Gallinari and the Knicks.

A native of Milan who is friendly with Bargnani from their time on the Italian National team, Gallinari scored 26 points and was 5-for-10 from beyond the arc.

"It was a big game in Italy because they were doing the game live in Italy [on Sky Sports] so everybody in Italy was watching this game," said Bargnani, who drained 5 of 6 3-pointers. "For our country it's important because it's the first time that three Italian players [including Marco Belinelli, who got a DNP] played an NBA game. It's something unbelievable for our country.

"Gallo played great, too. I think it was a lot of fun for all the Italian fans."

Al Harrington dropped a game-high 31 points off the bench for the Knicks, who lost for the third time in four games.

Spain's Jose Calderon scored 21 points for the Raptors, rookie Demar DeRozan added 19 and Chris Bosh, one of several high profile free-agents-to-be who has visited the Garden this year, added 18 points.

Bargnani scored 14 points, making 4 of 4 from beyond the arc, as Toronto raced out to a 39-20 lead on 63 percent shooting after one period. By halftime the Raptors led 67-43 on 59 percent shooting and Bargnani had 17 points.

"You know him, everybody knows him," Gallinari said. "Everybody knows he can do that. So it was not a surprise, not for me and not for everybody. He's a great player and he knows how to play basketball and that's why he played great tonight."

Bargnani also threw down a first-quarter dunk, looked over to his bench and then jumped up and down.

"I was just happy," he said. "We started very strong. I had to try with the dunk. I was just happy."

David Lee threw down a dunk of his own in the first quarter and was called for a technical for talking trash to Bargnani.

"It was more funny than anything else because [Bargnani] celebrated after his dunk," said Lee, who had 25 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists despite playing one day after the funeral for his 92-year-old grandfather, E. Desmond Lee.

"He celebrated and yelled in one of our guys' face. And I thought it was funny that when I dunked and I did the same thing. Unfortunately the refs, I don't think, found it as funny so I deserved it."

It was a critical game for both teams as they try to make a push for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

The Raptors (20-20) entered with a 2½ game lead over the Knicks (16-23) for second place in the Atlantic Division behind the Boston Celtics and have now widened that gap to 3½ games.

The Knicks must turn around and play at Detroit Saturday night before hosting the Pistons in a Martin Luther King Day matinee.

The Knicks got down 24-8 in a hurry, with Bargnani bombing away and winning the early battle over Gallinari, 11-1.

"First you gotta give them credit," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who starred and coached with Benetton Treviso of the Italian League. "They shot the living daylights out of it. We didn't make them feel us at all and Bargnani had an unbelievable first half."

By the time the Knicks took a timeout down 51-24, they were hearing boos from the Garden crowd.

But after trailing by as many as 28 points, the Knicks cut it to 93-85 on a 3-pointer from Nate Robinson early in the fourth.

Toronto went on a 6-0 mini-run fueled by back-to-back Calderon jumpers to push the lead back to 99-85.

In the end, Bargnani won the battle of Italians on a big night in New York -- and Italy.

"It was great because in Italy everything is about soccer so all the media, all the television, is about soccer so when you have a chance to get everybody involved and watch television about basketball, it's so important for my country," Gallinari said.

BOSH ON HIS FUTURE

Before the game, Bosh aced a horde of media interested in his future plans.

Bosh played under D'Antoni on the U.S. Olympic team last summer and said D'Antoni would be a drawing card for all free agents.

"He's a good coach," Bosh said. "Everybody wants to play with a good coach. He has good prestige and he gets along well with his players and stuff like that. So anybody who considers that, I think that's something that they would look at."

Rumors have swirled recently of a potential straight up trade of Bosh to the Lakers for Andrew Bynum. The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 18.

Another possibility is that Bosh re-signs with Toronto and is then packaged in a sign-and-trade in July. Bosh said he didn't know if he would still be in Toronto after the trading deadline.

"Oh, I have no idea, I don't know. I just play basketball and whatever happens, happens," he said. "I know it's a business and everything. And the business of basketball can take over sometimes. I can't worry about that, I just have to do my job every night."

• Raptors: Evans, O'Bryant
• Knicks: Curry, Milicic, Mobley

• Raptors: --
• Knicks: Lee

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 0

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #55 Bill Kennedy, #64 Eli Roe, #58 Zach Zarba
• Attendance: 19763
• Duration: 2:12