Donte DiVincenzo could feel the crowd as he neared a New York Knicks record.
“You feed into it. It’s an amazing feeling,” he said. “But also, it’s like every time you touch the ball, they’re like, ‘Shoot! Shoot!’ ”
On Monday, the crowd was justified in its requests. DiVincenzo did not stop shooting — and for the most part, he did not miss.
The Knicks guard broke the franchise record for most 3-pointers made in a game during Monday’s 124-99 win over the Detroit Pistons. He sank 11 of 20 long-range bombs, and it would have been 12 had a jumper that originally counted not been taken away later because DiVincenzo’s foot hit the out-of-bounds line.
He topped it off with a career-high 40 points. His Knicks career was not supposed to go this well. And yet, it has.
The record-tying jumper came with former record-holder Evan Fournier defending him (Fournier drained 10 3s in a game in 2022, tying J.R. Smith’s franchise marker, which he set in 2014). DiVincenzo sliced to the right dribbling out of a pick-and-roll. Fournier got caught on the screen and the 27-year-old lofted in his 10th triple of the evening.
“What he’s done, he’s in the record books for a reason,” DiVincenzo said on Fournier, who the Knicks traded to the Pistons in February. “Evan is a hell of a player, and the one thing I respect the most about Evan is how good of a teammate he was.”
After a few misses, DiVincenzo finally swished his 11th from the right wing, this time over Malachi Flynn, a short-lived teammate of his in New York who quickly and unforgettably earned the nickname “Evil Donte” because he looks like DiVincenzo with Wario-like features.
But even with reminders of the Knicks’ history all around, another undeniable thought emerged: The Knicks’ present is in a good place, too.
DiVincenzo is now one of the NBA’s scariest high-volume bombers. Defenses become frantic trying to stop him, sending one or two guys his way. His looks against the Pistons, a last-place team that was missing many of its best players Monday, weren’t as difficult as they might’ve been on other nights. But the Knicks rarely ever employed someone capable of even taking 20 3-pointers in a game, let alone making 11 of them.
“It’s extremely difficult (to shoot 20 3s in a game),” Knicks teammate Josh Hart said. “I don’t even know – Steph (Curry), maybe will get up 20. That’s a lot of work to get up 20. That’s a mini-workout right there.”
Now, DiVincenzo has evolved beyond the four-year, $47 million contract he signed this past summer. For a second consecutive offseason, New York has nabbed one of the league’s best contracts.
DiVincenzo isn’t done breaking records. He is only seven 3-pointers away from tying Fournier’s single-season record of 241. He has 11 games to do it. If DiVincenzo makes his season average, he will pass Fournier by the end of the week. Albeit, he just made 11 3-pointers in a game. At this rate, he could knock in eight Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors and it would shock no one.
He has a chance to vaporize a record that Fournier set only two years ago.
DiVincenzo is on pace to finish with 271 3s, 30 more than Fournier’s record. That would get him into the top 20 for a single season in league history. Only five players have reached that territory: Curry, James Harden, Klay Thompson, Paul George and Buddy Hield.
He is now third in the NBA this season in 3-point makes, only six behind MVP candidate Luka Dončić for second place. Curry, DiVincenzo’s former mentor, is in first. And DiVincenzo won’t catch him — nor will he need to for the Knicks to look at this signing and smile ear to ear.
DiVincenzo wasn’t even supposed to start at the beginning of the season. Instead, he usurped the job from Quentin Grimes. He makes only $10.9 million this season, far less than your average first-stringer and he’s performing at levels far above what just an average starter does.
Once again, the Knicks…
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