Donte DiVincenzo knows a thing or two about winning. That experience is
paying off with the Warriors
Donte DiVincenzo let his instincts take over late in Friday's win over
the Portland Trail Blazers.
>Golden State Warriors’ Donte DiVincenzo (0) reacts after making the
game tying basket sending the game into OT during their NBA game at the
Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. The
Golden State Warriors defeated the Atlanta Hawks 143-141 in double
overtime. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
By MADELINE KENNEY | mkenney@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. | UPDATED: January 3, 2023 at
1:11 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2023/01/01/donte-divincenzo-knows-a-thing-or-two-about-winning-that-experience-is-paying-off-with-the-warriors/

SAN FRANCISCO — Put a natural competitor with a championship pedigree
into any situation and they’ll find ways to help impact winning.

Donte DiVincenzo is proof of that with the Warriors this season.

DiVincenzo has been successful on the biggest stages during each step of
his career. He was a two-time NCAA champion with Villanova and won an
NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.

He might be only 25 but DiVincenzo has basketball maturity far beyond
his years. It’s allowed him to adapt to whatever role the Warriors need
him to fill — most recently that has been as a starter in place of an
injured Andrew Wiggins.

After missing eight games early in the season with a hamstring injury,
DiVincenzo has found his groove with the Warriors and is gelling quite
nicely. His fingerprints have been all over on the Warriors’ recent
gritty wins, including Friday’s 118-112 victory over the Portland Trail
Blazers.

So far this season, Golden State is 2-9 without DiVincenzo and 18-9 with
him.

Coincidence? Think again.

“He’s a winner … competes every second of every play, great rebounder,
just constantly moving towards the ball,” said coach Steve Kerr, who
added DiVincenzo “plays with so much energy and activity and then he’s
fearless.”

Just take his winning plays in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’
comeback win over the Portland Trail Blazers as examples.

With the game still in the balance — the Warriors were up two with under
a minute remaining — DiVincenzo let his mind go blank and his instincts
take over. He smothered Damian Lillard and prevented him from getting a
shot off. While Lillard calculated his next move, DiVincenzo quickly
batted the ball out of the Blazers star’s hands and into Golden State’s
possession.

“It’s definitely risky,” Draymond Green said of DiVincenzo forcing a
turnover like that. The foul-prone Warriors were in the penalty and a
mistake would’ve sent Lillard, a career 89.3% free throw shooter, to the
line. “But I’ve always said you have to play off instincts. I don’t care
who it is, if someone puts the ball in your face, you’re going to go
after it. If you’re an aggressive defender, and Donte is a very
aggressive defender, you just live with it.”

DiVincenzo was rewarded on the other side, knocking down a dagger 3 at
the top of the arc. He suggested that was the result of “basketball
Gods” or “karma” compensating him for being locked-in on the other end.

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In his seventh straight start since Wiggins went down with a groin
injury, DiVincenzo finished with nine points, nine rebounds, four
assists and a season-high four steals, including two within the last
three minutes of the game. And he had this night all while Gary Payton
II — the player DiVincenzo, in part, was signed to replace — was sitting
on the opponent’s bench.

DiVincenzo’s steal from Lillard was one of the several defensive plays
the Warriors made to limit Portland to just 16 points in the fourth,
including just two in the game’s final five minutes. But the steal
specifically highlighted the innate ballhawking tendencies DiVincenzo
possesses that the Warriors need.

While his defense has been impressive, he gave credit to Green for being
the team’s anchor on that side of the ball. DiVincenzo said Green’s
presence allows him to be more aggressive because he knows that the 2017
Defensive Player of the Year is there as a backup if needed.

“I was pressuring, forcing the drive in the paint, [Lillard] was looking
for contact and as soon as I got off, then Draymond stepped up,”
DiVincenzo said. “And that just builds confidence for me on the ball
just because I know I have him behind me.”