The game of basketball can be funny sometimes. On Friday, the Philadelphia 76ers announced that center Joel Embiid would be out for the season with a knee injury.
Without Embiid, the 76ers needed others to step up, and they got that on Saturday night when they hosted the Golden State Warriors.
Quentin Grimes scored 18 of his career-high 44 points in the third quarter as the 76ers defeated the Warriors 126-119.
With the win, Philadelphia snapped their nine-game losing streak.
Grimes was 18-of-24 from the field and had a season-high six threes.
“He did exactly what we told him to do before the game,” 76ers coach Nich Nurse said. “He was really good tonight… I think everybody that stepped on the floor contributed tonight for sure, but [Quentin Grimes] he was on one tonight. It was pretty cool to see.”
Grimes, acquired from the Mavericks before the trade deadline, said he came out aggressive on Saturday night.
“Just coming out being aggressive,” he said. “I felt like last time, last game in New York, didn’t come out as aggressive as I should have, and then we let our foot off the gas at the end. Most importantly, coming out here and being aggressive, trying to help my team get a win.”
The fourth-year guard, who had 20-first half points, including 12 in the first quarter, went off in the third quarter, where he was 8/11 from the field and scored 18 points.
“I’ve had 20-point halves in the past, but I think in the third quarter, I ran off 10 or 11 straight, and I was like, ‘okay, I’m kind of feeling it tonight,'” he said.
Guerschon Yabusele, who had 18 points, six rebounds, and five assists, was impressed by Grimes.
“It was an amazing performance,” Yabusele said. “Since he got here, he’s been showing a lot of great stuff for us, being aggressive on offense, and that’s what we really needed at that particular time. Today was just amazing; every time I was passing him the ball, I was telling him to keep going, keep pushing, he got everybody focused and going the right way. He was really important for us to have this tonight, and having this win was big for us.”
Grimes has been solid since joining the team, and Philadelphia needed all 44 of his points to beat the Warriors.
Leave a Reply