Former Warrior guard responds from poor outing to reach Eastern Conference Semis

Former Golden State Warriors’ guard Donte DiVincenzo has responded from a poor Game 5 to help the New York Knicks through to the second-round of the NBA playoffs.

DiVincenzo had just nine points on 3-of-10 shooting against the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, but immediately responded with nine first-quarter points on his way to 23 in the Knicks series-clinching 118-115 win on the road.

Donte DiVincenzo will be looking to go steps further after reaching the same point as his one year with the Golden State Warriors last season

Jalen Brunson again exploded for 41 points, but it was Josh Hart who came up with the go-ahead three-pointer with less than 25 seconds left in the game. The win pushes the Knicks through to a second-round battle with the Indiana Pacers, signifying DiVincenzo’s second-straight trip to the Conference Semifinals after being part of a Warrior team who fell in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers last season.

New York’s victory concludes a positive season for former Golden State forward Kelly Oubre Jr, who had 17 points and five rebounds in the three-point loss. The 28-year-old averaged 15.4 points and five rebounds during the regular season after signing a minimum contract with the 76ers in September.

Alec Burks joins DiVincenzo as two former Warriors on the Knicks roster, though the former failed to see any minutes throughout the six-game first-round series. Justin Holiday is the only other former Golden State player to have made it to the second-round, with the 35-year-old having averaged 7.2 minutes in the Denver Nuggets first-round series win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Cleveland Cavaliers pair Ty Jerome and Damian Jones can make it a handful of former Warriors in the conference semifinals, but neither are playing a role as their team leads 3-2 heading back for Game 6 in Orlando.

DiVincenzo is the only former Golden State player seeing meaningful playoff minutes, having averaged 32 minutes over the six games against the 76ers. His 23 points on Thursday were a playoff career-high, beating the 19 points he had in Game 2 last week.