Monty Williams’ last few trips to Madison Square Garden didn’t seem like he had a good time.
In a recent visit, the Pistons coach was thrilled to be on the other side of the Knicks’ franchise-record 11 3-pointers made by Donte DiVincenzo in a 124-99 win over the Knicks on Monday night. I hadn’t.
When Williams was asked about it after the game, he answered candidly.
“I don’t care about their team at all,” Williams said. “I couldn’t care less about it. How did those guys get that three? I don’t want to be part of that story.”
When Josh Hart was asked about Williams’ comments after the game, the Knicks star had a simple solution.
“If he didn’t want to be part of the story, he should have told his guys to play more defense,” Hart told reporters. “I don’t know what else to say. We have a hot guy, we’re going to try to find that hot guy. That’s common sense in basketball.”
DiVincenzo had a big night, scoring a career-high 40 points, and with 11 games remaining in the regular season, he trails Evan Fournier for the Knicks single-season record with eight 3-pointers.
The Knicks shooting guard made 20 3-pointers in the win.
Williams’ last visit to the Garden was chaotic with a number of questionable no-calls, and ended memorably with Hart winning on an and-1 with seconds remaining.
Williams criticized the officials in a short press conference at MSG after the game.
“It was the worst call of the season,” he said at the time. “It’s enough without making a phone call. We did it the right way. We called the league. We sent them a clip. We hear the same thing over and over again. I’m tired of it.”
