![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg height="440" width="780" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" version="1.1"/>)
There were times when it sounded like a Villanova home game on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center. There was a sizable and boisterous booster club cheering for Donte DiVincenzo as he buried five 3-pointers in the first quarter, including four in the opening 6 minutes. He would finish with 17 points.
DiVincenzo has been thrust into a starting role for the Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry on the shelf. Back home, in the gym where he won two national championships for Villanova, the Delaware native was on a mission to beat the Philadelphia 76ers. His teammates could sense it.
“All day today he was excited,” Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga said of DiVincenzo. “He had some family here, he won some titles here, so he was jacked up. And he put on a great performance and I wish we could have got the win for him.”
The Sixers beat the under-manned Warriors 118-106 in a game that was closer than it should have been. Credit DiVincenzo – the pride of Salesianum School — for keeping Golden State in it early.
“It’s cool. It’s always a great feeling to come home and seeing the Villanova banners up there,” DiVincenzo said. “I always point it out to my teammates every time, when I was at shootaround with Milwaukee and now here. So, it’s a great feeling hearing the fans kind of cheer when most of the time they’ll boo when the visiting team gets announced. It’s a cool feeling, wish we came out with the win, but it’s super cool to play here.”
More importantly, DiVincenzo got to see some family members. The 25-year-old said he received “too many” ticket requests, but it was good to see everyone in the arena.
“Too many [people here]. I got to see them all out there,” DiVincenzo said. “My aunt and uncle and my cousins, I haven’t seen them in a while so it was really good to see family.”
Doc Rivers: ‘I Kept Seeing a Villanova Jersey’
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers did a double-take when No. 0 kept bombing triples. The Warriors had jumped out to a 23-13 lead with 6:17 showing on the clock in the first quarter. Golden State was more than keep pacing early without Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins in the lineup. They were winning.
“They came out and they wanted to prove a lot and they did that,” Rivers said. “DiVincenzo, I kept seeing a Villanova jersey, I mean he was phenomenal at the beginning of the game. And then from that point on, I thought defensively we were pretty good. We still had our stretches where we didn’t play with great life but we won the game and I’ll take it.”
DiVincenzo’s Growing Bond with Steph Curry
There was a point in the fourth quarter, right after Klay Thompson stroked a triple to cut the Sixers’ lead to 12 points, that Steph Curry gave DiVinencenzo a quick slap on the butt. He walked over to check back into the game when it happened, although DiVincenzo couldn’t recall it. “Didn’t know he did that,” he said.
Either way, DiVincenzo came in and picked up 2 quick assists and a defensive rebound before the Sixers called a timeout. Curry’s love tap proved good luck, another chapter in the growing bond between those two players.
“He’s an amazing leader, an amazing person,” DiVincenzo said. “He builds a lot of confidence in not only JP [Jordan Poole] but myself. I think it really helps knowing I have his support on the bench even when I make mistakes, that he’ll talk me through it. He also knows that I’m very hard on myself so he builds me up. And that’s great to have as a competitor.”
0 Comments