The strength of Eric Paschall, his wide shoulders belying the fact he’s just a rookie, has never been more on display than Monday.
Sometimes he would lower his shoulder. Sometimes he would just lower himself and drive. Sometimes he was under control, sometimes he wasn’t. But seemingly every time he was heading toward the hoop, there was a 6-foot-10, 233-pound big man being barreled over.
That inflatable punching bag was named Danilo Gallinari, always there for a charge.
In a game in which the Warriors only dressed eight players, Paschall picked up five fouls — three in the first half — and three on charges drawn by the 12th-year player from Italy.
Asked about how he has to adjust to a player who may “flop” like Gallinari as he makes his way around the league, the 23-year-old showed every bit the veteran savvy he’s already flaunted on the court.
Paschall allowed a solid five seconds of silence, a smile slowing curling on his face, before offering: “Um. I’m trying to choose my words wisely. You just got to adjust, I feel like. See how people play you and adjust.”
That was that. Kerr was less coy.
“Gallinari’s a difficult guy to face because of his ability to flop, drop and draw fouls,” the head coach said after the Warriors’ 100-97 loss at Chase Center. “Flail around and do all the stuff he does. Still fooling the refs after all of these years. Eric has to figure that out. It’s all part of personnel. There were a couple plays where he did lower his shoulder, he did commit an offensive foul.”
But clearly not on each of those calls. The most frustrating of which came with 4:26 left in the second quarter, when Paschall drove to the hoop in a game the Warriors led 47-40. How much contact there was between Paschall and Gallinari was not all that clear, but the Thunder big man hit the floor hard and the whistle blew.
Paschall looked perplexed and frustrated as headed to the bench after a foul he clearly did not agree with, and he wouldn’t play in the half again.
“He is a good scorer,” said Gallinari, the well-traveled forward who finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting. “He wants to get to the basket and so I was just trying to read his drives and beat him to the spot.”
If and when he did, he allowed the 6-foot-6 Paschall to show off his 255 pounds.
“Gallinari’s very clever,” Kerr said. “He was smart, drew a couple fouls, and that put Eric in a difficult spot.”