It was a tough opening night for the Knicks, especially for the debuting Donte DiVincenzo.
DiVincenzo, who was signed in the offseason and was the team’s lone notable move, played just 15 minutes off the bench and was held scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting -- including 0-for-3 from three. It wasn’t the start he or the Knicks were hoping for after their 108-104 loss to the Celtics, but New York’s bench shined the brightest at Madison Square Garden.
While Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle struggled from the field -- shooting a combined 11-for-43 -- the bench, especially Immanuel Quickley, kept them in the game and even gave them a late lead.
"It shows how deep we are as a team," Brunson said after the game. "Those guys played phenomenal. They kept us in that game. ... We have a deep bench and the things that they're able to do help us win a lot of games."
Quickley was tied with RJ Barrett for the team-high with 24 points, but when he was asked how he and the bench commanded the offense to take that late lead, the 24-year-old talked up his teammates.
“We have a lot of smart guys,” Quickley said of the bench’s ball movement. “Donte played on the Warriors, they move the ball a lot. Isaiah Hartenstein played overseas, Josh [Hart] is a swiss army knife, he can do pretty much everything. guys that understand basketball at a high level. And they work well with each other, they play well without the ball, they move, they cut.”
That was especially true with DiVincenzo. While he didn’t score any points, he contributed in other ways. He grabbed three rebounds and dished two assists en route to a plus-5 rating when he was on the court.
A lot of that came when he was playing alongside Quickley.
“Donte makes my life a whole lot easier,” Quickley said. “He can initiate offense, he can guard the other team’s best player. He’s a great rebounding guard, he does a little bit of everything. He’s a great player, he’s going to be great for us this year. He makes my job so much easier, so I appreciate him.”
So Knicks fans underwhelmed by DiVincenzo’s debut should take a wait-and-see approach. Last season with Golden State, DiVincenzo averaged 9.4 points and shot 44 percent from the field including a career-high 39.7 percent from three.
If Quickley is saying the Villanova product makes his life easier, it’s only a matter of time before that translates to the other Knicks, and to DiVincenzo's offense.