Ranking the Top 5 Individual Performances from Knicks 2023-24 Season
2. Donte DiVincenzo’s Lights up Detroit for Knicks 3-Point History
Every team in the NBA has that one game during the regular season. The game where things just aren’t clicking or the team comes into the matchup with a lackadaisical attitude towards their opponent that makes them nearly, if not totally, dance with a tough loss to swallow from an inferior foe.
That is what happened on February 26th at Madison Square Garden, when the Knicks toyed with the flailing Detroit Pistons and were only a few loose balls away from an excruciating loss to an 8-49 team. New York’s Villanova trio combined for 79 points and 11-25 shooting from deep, but the rest of the team couldn’t contribute and created a slow start that allowed a pesky Pistons squad to hang around and nearly cause chaos at the Mecca.
Which is why one month later, there was one Knick in Donte DiVincenzo who was desperate to prevent that scenario repeating itself on the same Garden floor. His approach would be shooting the lights out from his favorite part of the court to slam the door early on the weakened Pistons and join elite company in Knicks history.
In the 124-99 routing that put the Knicks 15 games above .500 and boosted a quest for the two-seed in the East, DiVincenzo put forth the most astounding three-point shooting performance in franchise record books. Playing a second-highest 41 minutes, he shot 14-25 from the field, including a whopping 11-20 from the perimeter, to drop a season-high 40 points and set the Garden ablaze on a Monday night.
With the 11th make from beyond the arc, DiVincenzo placed his name into Knick lore by becoming the first player to score that many three-point baskets in a single game. Until then, the title was held by Evan Fournier and J.R. Smith, both having 10 three-pointers in a single game during their respective tenures in New York.
Along with the feat, DiVincenzo cemented himself into third place in the NBA’s leaderboard for three-pointers made this season and bolstered his candidacy for the most threes made by a Knick in a single season which he ultimately beat. To him, the moment felt like watching the arena begging for a guy like Steph Curry to pull up from unforeseen distances, except it was him who was the showman doing the magnificent.
“Yes, it’s an amazing feeling having the crowd behind you,” DiVincenzo said on March 25th. “But also like every time you touch the ball, they’re like, 'Shoot! Shoot!”
DiVincenzo would shoot his first three successful deep balls in the first quarter to help New York build up a fast 36-17 lead over the Pistons. The Knicks had their foot on the gas pedal the entire way, with Jalen Brunson dishing 28 points and going 3-7 from downtown and three other players offered double-digit points to bury the young team early.
The second half was where the explosion took off for DiVincenzo, nailing 6 three-pointers including the final one to seal the record with 3:16 left in the fourth quarter. It was a moment that not only established him as one of the newest sharpshooters in the sport and the greatest in New York City basketball but that glorified the move made by Leon Rose in the offseason and set the team up with an extra offensive threat for their postseason run.
This time around, the Knicks weren’t going to play with their food because Donte DiVincenzo would put the Pistons to rest early. He also made it known to the league that they’d have to worry about more than just Brunson on a nightly basis.