Tyrese Maxey can hold a little something over the Knicks’ heads after Monday’s Game 2 dramatics at Madison Square Garden.
The 76ers guard won the NBA’s Most Improved Player for 2023-24, the honor that Knicks hero Donte DiVincenzo was ineligible to win due to a recent stipulation in the league rules for the award.
DiVincenzo averaged 15.5 points this season and hit a Knicks record 283 3-pointers, but in order to be eligible for an award a player must play in at least 65 games during the season, and for a game to count toward that total, the player has to log at least 20 minutes of playing time.
Because DiVincenzo didn’t have enough games of at least 20 minutes, he fell short of the 65-game requirement.
Knicks guard Jalen Brunson received 11 votes (three first-place tallies) to finish fifth in the voting.
Maxey captured the honor after ranking 11th in the NBA in points per game and 20th in assists per contest while recording three games where he scored at least 50 points, which tied him for most in the NBA.
His 212 3-pointers were a new career high and an increase from the 160 he hit last season.
The award likely won’t be any sort of consolation prize after Maxey and the 76ers felt like they didn’t get the fair shake in the final minute of Monday night’s Game 2 of the first-round playoff series, a 104-101 Knicks win.
DiVincenzo played the hero with a go-ahead 3-pointer in the waning seconds that put the Knicks in front after a wild 6-0 run.
However, controversy ensued as it appeared the refs missed a number of fouls — and an apparent 76ers timeout — that should have been called during the sequence.
The NBA confirmed the 76ers’ complaints when it released its Last Two Minute (L2M) report Tuesday, ruling that Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson should have been called for fouls on Maxey in the moments leading up to the go-ahead bucket from DiVincenzo.