PHILADELPHIA — Donte DiVincenzo nailed the biggest shot for the Knicks in the first five games against the 76ers, but the sharpshooter mostly has been unable to get untracked in the rest of the first-round series aside from that go-ahead bucket in the closing seconds of Game 2.
DiVincenzo buried five of 10 shots and four 3-pointers in that comeback victory last week, but he otherwise had posted a .289 shooting percentage from the floor — including a puzzling .227 from 3-point land — in the other four games entering Game 6 on Thursday’s at Wells Fargo Center.
After averaging 38.2 minutes and registering 21 points and 4.6 made 3-pointers per game over his final 35 appearances of the regular season, the 27-year-old DiVincenzo’s playing time and production have dipped in the playoffs to 28.6 minutes, 9.8 points and 1.8 treys through the Knicks 3-2 start against the Sixers.
In his first season in New York after signing a four-year deal as a free agent, the former Villanova player established a franchise record with 283 made 3s in the regular season.
But ahead of Thursday’s game, DiVincenzo had missed 14 of 17 from long distance since his go-ahead triple with 13.0 seconds left lifted the Knicks to a Game 2 victory.
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“Just keep trusting your shot,” Tom Thibodeau said after Game 4 when asked about DiVincenzo’s shooting slump. “He puts the work in every day. So [if you’re] open, shoot. Guarded, make a play.”
Still, reserve combo guard Mile McBride logged more minutes twice in the first five games, with a 21-point performance in 28 minutes in Game 1 and 14 points in 33 minutes in the Knicks’ OT loss Tuesday night.
“We know we should’ve ended it [Tuesday] but we’ve got to move forward, got to stay together, regroup and just look forward,” McBride said. “Obviously, it [was] a tough one, but we have a great group of leaders from the coaching staff to the leaders in the locker room that I think are going to regroup us and get back to the drawing board.”