Quentin Grimes rediscovering his groove after demotion to Knicks’ bench

Barely one month after admitting to looking to the bench after every missed shot, Quentin Grimes appears to be regaining his confidence and finding his groove again for the Knicks.

The third-year shooting guard finally has seemed to settle into a reserve role since the Knicks’ trade for OG Anunoby barely one week ago, knocking down nearly 50 percent of his 3-point attempts during the revamped team’s four-game winning streak entering Tuesday’s home game against the Trail Blazers

“He’s been playing well. When you see the ball go in the hoop it builds your confidence, and so the things he’s been able to do, it’s him. He’s back to who he is, and I expect nothing less,” point guard Jalen Brunson said of Grimes after Monday’s practice in Tarrytown. “He works really hard, and the things he’s able to do, we’ve seen before, and now we’re going to continue to see it.”

Monday night represented a family reunion for Grimes, who attended the Canucks-Rangers game at the Garden to watch his older half-brother, 15-year NHL veteran defenseman Tyler Myers, who plays for Vancouver.

Grimes and the 33-year-old Myers — separated by more than 10 years — represent the only NBA-NHL brother tandem ever to play in their respective leagues.

Their mom, Tonja, visited New York from Texas to take in her sons’ games on back-to-back nights at the Garden, with Grimes accompanying her Monday night.

Grimes, who actually is 3 inches shorter than his 6-foot-8 older brother, lost his starting job in early December to Donte DiVincenzo.

The Houston native admitted on Dec. 8 that “every shot I shoot probably weighs like 100 pounds if I don’t make it” adding “it feels like if I don’t hit the shot, I’m coming out.”

But the departure of wings RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley in the Anunoby deal has opened up some playing time and shots for Grimes, who is averaging 10.8 points per game during the winning streak.

He also has drilled 10 of 22 attempts from beyond the arc (45.5 percent) during that span.

“He’s playing very well, and we need everyone playing well,” Tom Thibodeau said Monday. “That’s what we want, to get the best out of everybody. And so it just seems to have worked out better this way.

“But we have a lot of confidence in him and we’re comfortable with him playing with the first unit and the second, as we are with Donte playing with both units. And Josh [Hart] does it extremely well, so that versatility I think is important for us.”

With the additions of Hart at last season’s trade deadline, DiVincenzo over the summer and Anunoby on Dec. 30 as strong perimeter defenders, Grimes’ overall playing time has dipped from essentially 30 minutes per game (29.9) in 2022-23 to barely 20 (20.3) this season.

DiVincenzo has started the past 16 games, and he’s shooting a career-best 44.2 percent from long distance for the season — the 10th-best percentage in the NBA entering Monday’s league action.

Brunson also is not far behind his former Villanova teammate at 43.2 percent (14th overall).

With Quickley gone, Miles McBride also has entered the Knicks’ rotation as Brunson’s primary backup at the point.

He nailed 6 of 11 from 3-point range in the four victories, including a 15-point game in Friday night’s blowout win over the 76ers.

“I’ve said this a couple of times over the past couple of games, but he’s been ready for his opportunity, whenever his number’s been called,” Brunson said of McBride. “He comes in every day and works on his game, does his routine, does all that stuff as if he’s going to play. So he’s been ready, and what I’ve seen from him is that his routine hasn’t changed. He’s been the same, and he’s doing what he has to do to get himself ready. And we love to see it.”

Added Thibodeau: “I think a lot of it is based on, 1) how he works and 2) he showed us last year whenever he was called upon, he played very well — whether it was an NBA game, a playoff game or when he went down to the G-League. Just the way he stayed ready this year. He wasn’t in the rotation but that didn’t change his approach. It didn’t change his attitude. We’re very confident when he was put in there that he would play well.”