Milwaukee Bucks: Confidence remains the key for Donte DiVincenzo
By Dalton Sell
Without a doubt, third-year guard Donte DiVincenzo had the best game of his young career with the Milwaukee Bucks this past Thursday night.
With Milwaukee mightily shorthanded at the guard position without Jrue Holiday, D.J. Augustin, and Jaylen Adams in the lineup, the Bucks turned to DiVincenzo to shoulder the load over the Bucks’ 129-125 victory versus the New Orleans Pelicans.
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DiVincenzo did just that by finishing with a career-high 24 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep. Converting from everywhere on the floor offensively, he made sure to pick up the scoring load with their backcourt depth drained.
The guard also tied his career-high in assists with nine while also chipping in seven rebounds, two steals, and one block.
In poetic fashion, DiVincenzo also took the game-sealing charge in the final seconds of the contest. After his latest outing, it is clear that the key to the 24-year-old’s success is his internal confidence, and which could be the ultimate x-factor for Milwaukee this season.
Donte DiVincenzo’s confidence should be off the charts after his career night for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Following the win, reigning two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke on Donte’s big night and just how impactful his contributions will be moving forward, particularly in the starting lineup, per Bucks.com:
"“He’s a big part of who we are, and we need him every single night. He had an unbelievable game, and we are all very happy for him… When he gets going, you’ve got to guard him, he’s a threat out there. We need him to always be confident. We need him to always go downhill. We need him to shoot the ball when he’s wide open and to create for us because he takes attention from everybody.”"
As evidenced Thursday night, Antetokounmpo certainly has a point about DiVincenzo’s confidence and just how important he is to this team. DiVincenzo has been playing with a renowned sense of confidence this entire month. After a lackluster January, the young guard has flipped the switch in February, turning up the intensity and overall production.
Over his 14 appearances this month, DiVincenzo is averaging 12.1 points on .440/.413/.462 shooting, 5.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 0.9 steals. That’s quite the step up from the slump DiVincenzo had in January, where he averaged 7.8 points on .369/.297/.889 shooting splits, 4.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.1 steals in 14 appearances.
With his confidence surging after such a rough slide, there’s been no better improvement from DiVincenzo than his 3-point shooting.
After shooting 31.8 percent from 3-point territory on 3.5 attempts over his first two seasons with the Bucks, the guard has made a strong effort to bump those numbers up this season. The hard work is paying off as DiVincenzo is having a career-year from deep by knocking down 40 percent of his triples on five attempts per game.
DiVincenzo has been letting it fly with confidence, which has provided a sizeable boost for Milwaukee’s high-powered offense. As DiVincenzo’s outside shooting has trended upwards, the Villanova product still has strides to make when scoring at the cup.
Having converted 54 percent of his 100 shots within the restricted area, per NBA.com/stats, DiVincenzo hasn’t been afraid to take the ball to the basket. For DiVincenzo, it’s all about putting together his scoring, especially when operating through the trees, and there is more room for improvement, clearly.
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Thankfully, DiVincenzo’s development over his third NBA season has been trending upwards on the whole. Now, after the best outing of his career and his confidence at an all-time high, DiVincenzo can continue moving forward in a similar regard.