Gallo’s second half of games a head-scratcher

Among the many Rubik’s Cube-type puzzles for first-year Nuggets coach Michael Malone to solve is this one: How does he get Danilo Gallinari’s production consistently evened out over both halves of games?

Of course, Gallinari, the Nuggets’ leading scorer, is an active participant in fixing the issue, which is about as peculiar as they come.

In a nutshell, this is it: During the Nuggets’ 85-74 loss to Orlando on Tuesday, Gallinari got off to a hot start, scoring 11 points in the first quarter. But he scored only two points the remainder of the game.

And while this is a bit of an extreme example because Gallinari didn’t score in the second quarter, the second half, where he made only 1-of-6 shots and scored two points, is in focus. Gallinari’s second-half scoring outage has happened multiple times this season.

It’s been prevalent enough that the veteran forward and Malone met to figure it out when the Nuggets were in Milwaukee last week.

“I asked him if he had any ideas on why there was such a drastic difference between the first half and the second half,” Malone said. “He couldn’t put a finger on it; I couldn’t. We’ve talked about maybe playing him less in the first half, using him more in the second half. But I’m not sure what it is and neither is he.”

At first glance, things don’t look so bad. Gallinari is averaging 17.5 points per game this season — including 8.0 in the second half. He shoots 40.9 percent from the field in the final 24 minutes, which is better than his overall field-goal shooting (38.9 percent).

But two things stand out: Gallinari’s second halves at home, and his fourth quarters anywhere.

At home Gallinari is shooting just 27.8 percent from the field — including 22.7 percent from the 3point line — in the second half. He is averaging only 6.1 points after the break at the Pepsi Center.

In the fourth quarter, whether it’s at home or on the road, Gallinari is shooting 34.2 percent from the field — including just 15.4 percent from the 3-point line.

“I’ve just got to step my game up and be a better player in the second half,” Gallinari said. If only it were that easy. “I think that also speaks to our team, it’s not just Gallo,” Malone said. “We’ve had a lot of examples as a team of a good first half and bad second half, or a third quarter where things just go haywire. So, (we’re) going to continue to try to figure that one out.”

Gallinari does have some success in the second half of games. One his most notable performances was in New Orleans on Nov. 17, when he scored 18 of his 32 points in the second half. He had 15 points on 6-of-6 shooting in the third quarter alone.

Now, he has to find a way to bottle that and repeat it.

A difficult adjustment Gallinari is having to make this season is finding his way to 20 points every night when he is the top priority on the opponent’s scouting report. Gallinari has seen the best perimeter defender most nights and defenses that are designed to stop him. Orlando was particularly effective in keeping the 6-foot-10 Gallinari from posting up, fighting him off the block numerous times during the game.

“It has not been an easy adjustment,” Gallinari said. “But it is something we were looking at videos and talking to coaches about different situations. It’s going to be an adjustment, and hopefully I’ll be able to do a better job.”