Knicks’ Quentin Grimes finds 3-point shooting touchdown

DETROIT — The Knicks’ team-wide shooting discomfort from 3-point range hadn’t gotten around Quentin Grimes since returning from weeks of injury uncertainty.

But the sophomore guard rediscovered his outside touch on Tuesday night, hitting three of four long-range shots and finishing with a season-high 16 points in the Knicks’ 140-110 win over Detroit.

« I think he’s starting to find his rhythm offensively, » said Tom Thibodeau after the game.

Grimes made his fifth straight start after dealing with a nagging foot injury since training camp. He connected 38.1% from long range as a rookie, but missed 20 of his first 26 tries from beyond the arc this season in Sunday’s loss to the Grizzlies.

« I use a lot of legs in my jump shot, but I know the job I’m doing. It will come, » Grimes said before the match. “It’s only four or five games, just full speed play with over 30 minutes. So I know it will come, for sure. I just have to keep putting my legs under me.

Thibodeau emptied the bench in the blowout, but former starter Evan Fournier, earning $18 million this season, did not come off the bench for an eighth straight game.

« Apart from hard, there’s nothing else to say, » Fournier said. « Trying to do my job, to be supportive, to be a good teammate and to do my job. And that’s it. »

Immanuel Quickley had been doubtful playing with the sore knee that eliminated him from Sunday’s game against Memphis, but he scored 15 points in 21 minutes.

Derrick Rose said the toe problem that kept him out of two games last week was suffered before the game at Phoenix which he left at halftime on Nov. 20.

Rose, who played 12 minutes on Sunday against Memphis in his return to the rotation, said the injury was « a toenail problem » but he is « towards the end now ». He scored five points in 25 minutes, a season high.

The Knicks waived Feron Hunt on a two-way deal and signed forward DaQuan Jeffries to a two-way deal. Jeffries attended training camp with the Knicks and played for their Westchester G-League affiliate.