One Evan Fournier record down — one more to go.
Starting guard Donte DiVincenzo erupted for 11 threes in the Knicks’ 124-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Monday.
His hot-shooting night set a new franchise record for most threes made in a game, eclipsing a mark Fournier set hitting 10 threes in a Jan. 6, 2022 revenge game against his former team, the Boston Celtics.
The single-game record, of course, is merely the cherry on top to the ice cream sundae that is the Frenchman’s single-season franchise record.
Fournier made 241 threes in the 2021-22 season.
DiVincenzo drained three-pointer No. 234 on Monday, fittingly against Fournier, who defended him on his fourth and 10th made triples of the night.
The Knicks traded Fournier to the Pistons along with Quentin Grimes, Malachi Flynn, Ryan Arcidiacono and second-round draft pick compensation in the deal netting Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks.
Now from 11, the focus shifts to eight.
Seven more threes to tie, eight more threes to make history.
And with 11 games left on the schedule — including two coming up against below-.500 teams in the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs — DiVincenzo doesn’t just threaten Fournier’s record: He’s threatening to break the record this week.
The Knicks are also clearly hunting DiVincenzo threes: He attempted 20 shots from downtown in a 40-point performance against the Pistons and made his last two threes as a starter on the floor with the Knicks up more than 20 in the final five-and-a-half minutes of regulation.
Detroit’s head coach Monty Williams was irate after the game.
“I don’t care about their team at all. I could care less,” Williams said when asked about DiVincenzo. “Those guys, the way they got those threes, I don’t want to be a part of that story.”
Josh Hart had a sharp response after hearing Williams’ comments.
“If he don’t wanna be part of the story, he should have told his guys to defend better,” he said after the game. “What am I supposed to say, bro? We’ve got a guy that’s hot, so we’re gonna try to find the guy that’s hot. That’s common sense in basketball. He’s a head coach in this league, so I think he has the IQ to know if someone’s hot, you go to them.
“So they’re gonna be a part of our story regardless.”
DiVincenzo didn’t have as harsh of a criticism for Williams as Hart.
“All I can say is I have the utmost respect for them,” he said. “And if they felt that way, that’s a conversation to be had off camera.”
DiVincenzo is having a career year following both his insertion into the starting lineup over Grimes and the OG Anunoby trade sending key offensive options RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the Toronto Raptors.
He is averaging 17.2 points per game since his permanent promotion to the starting lineup on Dec. 8 and 19.1 points per game since the Knicks acquired Anunoby on Dec. 30.
DiVincenzo ranks second behind Golden State’s Stephen Curry in threes made per game since the Anunoby deal and is shooting 38.6% on more than 10 threes per game during this span.
The Knicks signed DiVincenzo to a four-year, $46.8 million deal as their lone offseason acquisition over the summer.
Their investment is paying rapid dividends: DiVincenzo is one step closer to making Knicks franchise history.
