HOUSTON - Determined to stay with his man, Danilo Gallinari ran smack into the immovable object that is
Eddy Curry. The 20-year-old rookie stumbled backward a bit but regained his balance and got back into the play.
It was a small but notable victory for Gallinari, who in Friday's practice participated in his first full-court, full-contact scrimmage since his back pain flared up two months ago.
"I'm feeling better in my mind because I'm feeling better," Gallinari said after working up a heavy sweat in a competitive four-on-four run. "The confidence is coming back, the confidence that I will be back. It's getting better."
Mike D'Antoni tried to push Gallinari into action in the first two games of the season, only to pull him back out when the pain from a bulging disc suffered over the summer obviously affected the rookie's performance. Those were the only two games he has appeared in this season and the only games in which he has played since the first summer league game in July, when Gallinari ran into 6-8, 284-pound Robert "Tractor" Traylor and the injury first became an issue.
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So you can understand why D'Antoni now will allow himself only caution about finally having the 6-10 swingman on the court. "It's encouraging," D'Antoni said of Gallinari's workout. "We're right on the cusp, but we don't want to have any setbacks."
Curry, who made his debut in Thursday's 99-94 loss in Dallas, also ran the entire scrimmage as he works himself back into game shape. Curry played 2:34 and had two points and four rebounds. He is expected to get another look Saturday night against the Rockets.
There remains no set timetable for Gallinari's return, which could be more than a week away. The training staff will monitor how Gallinari's back responds to Friday's heavy workout and go from there.
"We'll see how he does today and tomorrow, and if he doesn't have any setbacks, he'll keep playing a little more in practice and then we'll see what happens," D'Antoni said. "It'll be a day-to-day thing, and if we get to a point where we think we can get him into a game, we will."