It was a celebratory night for the New York Knicks and especially star Donte DiVincenzo as he scored 40 points on top of setting a franchise record with 11 made three-point shots in their win over the Detroit Pistons, 124-99. However, Pistons head coach Monty Williams did not take kindly to the immense effort by DiVincenzo in his post-game press conference which resulted in Knicks star Josh Hart to respond Monday night.
Starting with Williams' comments about DiVincenzo and the Knicks as a whole, it was the Pistons 15th straight game against the Knicks where it has ended in a defeat. When asked about the performance of DiVincenzo, Williams would cut off a member of the media's question about it and said “I don't care about their team at all” according ton Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.
“I don’t care about their team at all. I couldn’t care less,” Williams said. “Those guys, the way they got those 3s — I don’t want to be a part of that story.”
Josh Hart's response to Williams talking about DiVincenzo's performance
While DiVincenzo was the star of the game, Hart once again had an exceptional effort as he recorded another triple-double by scoring 11 points, collecting 14 rebounds, and recording 10 assists while playing 40 minutes. In response to Williams, he bluntly said that if he didn't like how the DiVincenzo and the Knicks were shooting three pointers, “he should've told his guys to defend better.”
“If he didn’t want to be a part of that story, he should’ve told his guys to defend better,” Hart said. “What else is there to say? We got a guy that’s hot, we’re going to try to find the guy that’s hot. It’s common-sense basketball. He’s a head coach in the league so I think he has the IQ to know if someone is hot, you’re going to go to him. So they’re going to be a part of that story regardless.”
On the season, Hart has been averaging nine points, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 41.9 percent from the field.
DiVincenzo responds to Williams
Even DiVincenzo responded to Williams comments about the Knicks and the way they were shooting their shots, but took more of the high road instead of tackling the quote straight on. He would say he has the “utmost respect” for the Pistons, but did ultimately say that if they feel some type of way, “that's a conversation to be had off camera.”
“All I can say is I have the utmost respect for them, and if they felt that way, that’s a conversation to be had off camera,” DiVincenzo said after the game via The New York Post.
DiVincenzo is in the midst of his best season yet in the NBA as he is in his seventh year where he is averaging 14.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 44.2 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arch. He said after the game that the main benefactor that led to his 40-point performance was the Knicks crowd at Madison Square Garden fueling him.
“The crowd was speeding me up,” he said. “That emotion where you get like a sliver of space, and the crowd, as soon as you catch the ball, you can hear the crowd. Really I’ve said this, it’s the best fans in the league in that moment it’s a dream of like, ‘Slow down, take your time, and shoot the ball.’”
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau impressed with DiVincenzo
It has been an impressive season overall for the Knicks as it has been head coach Tom Thibodeau leading the way for the team. He was impressed by the performance of DiVincenzo, but also the way the rest of the team “helped create good shots for him.”
“Impressive, and he’s been doing it all year,” Thibodeau said. “I thought his teammates helped create good shots for him, he knocked them down and played hard the whole game.”
The Knicks are continuing on with their excellent season where they are 43-28 on the year which puts them fourth in the tightly packed Eastern Conference. While there could be future bad blood between the Knicks and the Pistons later, New York's next game is against the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night.
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