On this day five years ago, Danilo Gallinari set a new career-high with 47 points against the Dallas Mavericks during a double-overtime classic.
Although Denver was approaching the end of a tough 2014-15 season in which the team won just 30 games, Gallinari gave Nuggets fans a memorable show for one night in the middle of April, even if it came in a heartbreaking 144-143 loss.
Just over two weeks prior to this career night, Gallinari had established 40 points as his career-high, but his hot streak continued at Pepsi Center on April 10 with 47 points on 15-of-23 shooting from the field, including 7 of 12 from beyond the arc. The Italian forward also knocked down all 10 of his free-throw attempts in his nearly 46 minutes of action.
A key piece in the return for Carmelo Anthony in the 2011 blockbuster trade between Denver and the New York Knicks (the Minnesota Timberwolves were also included in the deal to facilitate things), Gallinari established himself as a fan favorite in Denver across his six seasons with the team.
Across 303 games with the Nuggets, Gallinari averaged 16.2 points per game and established himself as a sweet-shooting, versatile scoring forward. Gallinari was a key face of the franchise during the Nuggets’ transitional period, as Denver spent a couple of seasons looking for franchise centerpieces following the franchise-record 57-win season in 2012-13.
Denver eventually found those centerpieces in Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and head coach Michael Malone, while Gallinari continued to be a key player during Malone’s first two seasons as head coach before departing in free agency for the LA Clippers in 2017 (which eventually became a three-team sign-and-trade between the Clippers, Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks).
As for that 47-point performance in 2015, just two current Nuggets were on the team to play alongside Gallinari on that magical night: Gary Harris and Will Barton III. Harris was nearing the end of his rookie season in Denver, while Barton III had recently joined the team around the 2015 trade deadline.
On that April night five years ago, Gallinari put on a scoring display that both he and fans will continue to remember for years to come. For those looking to checkout Gallinari’s explosive scoring performance, look no further than the video below.