Getty
Mohamed Diawara #51 of the New York Knicks
The New York Knicks put forth one of their best wins of the season on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, when they outmuscled the Spurs and rode their surging defense to a 25-point win over what had been the hottest team in the league. While the 89 points scored by San Antonio was the story of the game, though, a subtler development on the bench is worth noting as the Knicks move into the stretch run and begin sorting out their playoff rotation.
That development is Mohamed Diawara, the 19-year-old rookie who appeared to lose his rotation spot following the signing for Jeremy Sochan, the former Spurs Top 10 pick, after Sochan was released following the trade deadline.
The presumption was that Sochan’s addition on the wing would mean the end of the Knicks using Diawara consistently as the ninth man. Indeed, that’s the way it played out–in the first four games after the All-Star break, Diawara totaled just 20 minutes in four games. But he played 23 minutes on Friday against the Bucks, and came back with 14 points (second-most of the season) in 20 minutes against San Antonio.
Knicks Teammates Want Mohamed Diawara to Shoot
Even at his tender age, Diawara has won over his Knicks teammates, who appreciate his combination of confidence and youthful enthusiasm. When he is on the floor, teams have made it a habit to leave him alone at the 3-point line, as the Spurs did, but Diawara has been making opponents pay–he is up to 39.8% from the 3-point line.
“I love it,” guard Landry Shamet said. “Every time the ball touches his hands, I am yelling, ‘Shoot it!’ So, I want that kid to stay aggressive and obviously we know how raw talented he is. It’s crazy, he is what, 19 years old? I am happy for him to have a game like today, that’s a tough job. A lot of people think, ‘Aw, he’s wide open all the time.’ But it’s weird when you look up and nobody’s guarding you.
“Teams have to choose what they want to give up and Mo being in that position, I think he handled it great today. Early, you saw him kind of thinking about a few of them. But I told him, hey, when you’re catching the ball, you’re the first option.”
Mike Brown: ‘He Doesn’t Bat an Eye’
While there may have been some concern that the addition of Sochan on the wing for the Knicks might sap the confidence of Mohamed Diawara, that was never an issue from Mike Brown’s perspective. When the Knicks brought in Sochan, Brown acknowledged that Diawara would lose minutes as he checked out how Sochan fit with the group.
Now, though, Brown seems to be going back to Diawara–and he was never worried about confidence.
“Mo is not afraid,” Brown said. “I have said this to you guys before, I have thrown him out there in games to start on national TV and he didn’t bat an eye. He might start three games in a row, and he might not play in the fourth game. He doesn’t bat an eye. He is the most confident young man I have been around. He has a chance to be not good, but really good. And he’s worked extremely hard on his shooting, because like you saw tonight, teams play off him.
“Confidence-wise, you don’t have to worry about that. What you said is correct, he and Jeremy now are ninth and 10th, 10 and 9. And they both have to keep themselves ready because their numbers could be called any time.”
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
More Heavy on Knicks
Loading more stories