Betting on himself this season didn’t go nearly as well as Quentin Grimes may have hoped. A tumultuous restricted free agency saw him return to the Sixers on only the $6 million dollar qualifying offer in hopes of scoring a better deal the following offseason.
He started well, averaging 17 points per game, shooting 44.8% from the field and 36.9% from three through the first month of the season. Since Dec. 1, though, those numbers dropped to 12.2 points per game and, crucially, a 31% three-point percentage.
His start to the playoffs looked similar. After a great five games in March with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George all out, Grimes again looked like he was struggling to scale down into becoming a helpful complementary player. While he made 50% of his threes in the first three games of the Sixers round one series against Boston, he was only taking two a game as the Celtics’ bench exponentially outscored the Sixers’.
It didn’t prevent them from being blown out in Game 4, but Grimes taking seven shot attempts, his most of the series, ended up being a step in the right direction. He followed up the 12-point performance in Game 4 by dropping 18 off the bench in Game 5.
He did so by shooting 5-of-8 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. Not only did every single one of those feel like huge momentum shifts, but Grimes made the most important play of the game immediately after sinking one.
Embiid had kicked out to him out of the post. He drilled the three from the break to give the Sixers a six-point lead, their highest of the night to that point. Right after burying that he read the pass coming to Jaylen Brown and poked it down the court, nearly stealing it. Brown was able to secure the loose ball was down the other end of the floor, but Grimes stayed right in his face, forcing him to use the remainder of the shot clock to get the ball back into the half court. Brown got off a midrange pull-up, but with Grimes in his face the entire time the ball clanked off the rim and the Sixers got another stop to help build their lead.
The Celtics would only score three more points the rest of the game, missing their last 14 field goals of the night.
Not only was that the biggest play of the Sixers’ entire season, but it highlights two things about the Quentin Grimes experience. The first is why watching him on a nightly basis can be frustrating at times. The second, though, is why can be present value to a team even when he’s struggling offensively.
Grimes hasn’t shot it nearly as well or as frequently as anyone would have hoped. His decision making as a ball handler is frustrating at times — he averaged the second-highest turnover rate of his career this season, per Cleaning the Glass.
Even when he’s struggling with these things his effort is there on defense more often than not. Being strong, quick and on the bigger side for a guard allows him to take on some of the most important assignments, like guarding Jaylen Brown for stretches of games.
There have been plenty of games this year where Grimes couldn’t buy a shot, but needed to close out games because of how much the Sixers needed his defense. It worked out really well for both Grimes and the Sixers that in Game 5 they didn’t have to choose between one or the other.
