Quentin Grimes’ breakout performance offers hope for Sixers to stave off elimination
Quentin Grimes put his physique on Jaylen Brown as he misplaced his grip on the basketball within the backcourt. Then Grimes stored urgent the Boston Celtics’ famous person guard, who labored his approach up the ground earlier than taking an off-balance midrange jumper on the finish of the shot clock.
The sequence was symbolic of the tenacity it took for the 76ers to pull forward to victory in Game 5 of their first-round playoff sequence, retaining their season alive. It additionally got here proper after Grimes hit considered one of his 4 three-pointers, a part of an 18-point effort as a much-needed bench spark and nearer in a profitable three-guard lineup.
Grimes’ breakout performance was a notable late-series improvement for a Sixers workforce — which can once more strive to keep away from elimination in Thursday’s Game 6 at Xfinity Mobile Arena — that had been overwhelmed by Boston’s bench of their first 4 playoff matchups.
“Obviously, he gave us a great lift on both ends,” coach Nick Nurse mentioned of Grimes on Wednesday. “…I’m glad he kind of looked more like himself.”
» READ MORE: Inside Game 5’s fourth quarter, which kept the Sixers’ season alive: ‘I didn’t want to go home’
Entering Game 5 on Tuesday, the Celtics’ bench had outscored the Sixers, 149-86, with an eye-popping plus/minus distinction of plus-30 vs. minus-25. Nurse was requested after Sunday’s lopsided Game 4 loss if it was time to take into account introducing a brand new rotation participant with X issue potential on this matchup.
Turns out the jolt got here from a second-unit mainstay in Grimes, whereas reserve teammates round him have shuffled all through the sequence.
Grimes had gathered 15 complete factors throughout Games 1 by 3, primarily due to low shot quantity slightly than inefficiency. When requested after the sequence opener about not trying a shot till the fourth quarter, the 25-year-old combo guard matter-of-factly mentioned, “It be like that sometimes.”
Nurse echoed that scoring alternatives had not typically offered themselves to Grimes earlier within the sequence. Still, the coach inspired the Sixers to push the ball forward of Grimes, and Grimes to “vault up and shoot.”
“I just kept telling him to be aggressive,” Nurse added. “…We need your shooting, man. You’ve got to shoot.”
Grimes scored 12 factors on 5-of-7 capturing from the ground in Game 4. Although a forgettable on-the-surface stat line in a Sixers doubt, it was additionally maybe some foreshadowing that Grimes could possibly be a beneficiary of Joel Embiid‘s return from an appendectomy.
Nailing a three-pointer by contact — and the free throw to full the four-point play — on Grimes’ first try halfway by Tuesday’s first quarter offered a confidence increase noticeable to Nurse and teammates. All-Star level guard Tyrese Maxey He started calling performs for Grimes, and Embiid used his presence to free him up from past the arc. Grimes hit two extra deep photographs throughout a essential third-quarter stint, serving to the Sixers shut the hole earlier than dominating the fourth quarter.
“He just helps with the spacing,” Embiid mentioned of Grimes. “Now [the defense has] got to make a decision, whether it’s double me, which they’re probably still going to do. We just trust him to knock down those wide-open shots, and he did that.”
Nurse additionally believes that shot-making bolstered Grimes on the other finish of the ground, the place stout perimeter protection is required towards scoring wings Brown and Jayson Tatum, plus harmful outdoors shooters akin to Payton Pritchard.
Grimes has constructed a status as a ferocious defender, relationship again to his faculty days below Kelvin Sampson at Houston and whereas starting his NBA profession below Tom Thibodeau with the New York Knicks. His mentality whereas sticking with Brown up the size of the court docket: “I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want it to be the last game.”
“I’m just trying to make this as hard as possible for him,” Grimes added. “And luckily, he kind of took a bad shot… [If] we string along stops like that, and score like that on the offensive end, it makes us pretty dangerous, for sure.”
Added Maxey: “He just kept his tail off the entire night.”
It can be fascinating to monitor if Nurse continues to tinker with the Sixers’ personnel in one other must-win in Game 6.
Since Embiid returned, Andre Drummond has been the backup middle and Adem Bona has moved out of the rotation. Forward Dominick Barlow, a part-time regular-season starter and sometimes sturdy pairing with Embiid, didn’t play in Game 3 and logged 17 mixed minutes throughout Games 4 and 5. Second-year wing Justin Edwards was out of the rotation in Game 5.
NBA playoffs: Sixers vs. Celtics
Yet Grimes has remained, permitting a quiet begin to this sequence to evolve right into a Game 5 breakout.
Earlier this month, Grimes described his common season — when he averaged 13.4 factors, 3.6 rebounds, and three.3 assists however shot a career-low 33.4% from three-point vary — as “solid.” This can also be a last private assertion, of kinds, for Grimes. He will enter unrestricted free company this summer season after a messy restricted free company final offseason resulted in him taking his one-year qualifying provide for 2025-26.
Tuesday’s effort is a big purpose that Grimes and the Sixers get at the very least yet another sport. A repeat performance Thursday can be a boon for a Sixers bench that has been overmatched for the majority of this sequence.
There was no higher instance than that particular person defensive stand towards Brown.
“I’ll be tired tomorrow. That’s cool,” Grimes mentioned late Tuesday. “But right now, we’ve got to give it our all.”
