What is the story about?
Here come the Hospital Sixers.
With strong contributions up and down the roster, the Sixers were able to sweep their back-to-back with a 109-103 win over the Portland Trail Blazers Sunday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Quentin Grimes led the way for the Sixers posting a game-high and season-high 31 points. Justin Edwards had another strong performance with 21 points. VJ Edgecombe stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points — including a couple huge clutch buckets — three assists and a career-high 12 rebounds.
The team was once again without the services of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George and Kelly Oubre Jr. Jabari Walker missed his second straight game with an illness. Dalen Terry was out with left shoulder impingement after a nasty collision in the win over the Nets Saturday.
The Sixers now sit at 37-31, a half game up on the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth seed.
Here are a few thoughts from the arena.
First Quarter
- Inauspicious start with the Trail Blazers banging a three and getting two and-ones within the first minute of the contest. Justin Edwards snapped the 9-0 opening run with a three and then Dominick Barlow finished a dunk over the massive Donovan Clingan off a nice cut.
- Good, aggressive starts from Edwards and Quentin Grimes. Ahead of the game, Portland head coach Tiago Splitter mentioned how his team needed to guard against a fast Sixers start, in part by limiting their transition opportunities. The Sixers were out and running early and were even with the Trail Blazers, 14-14, midway through the first.
- Barlow airballed a three and had a layup attempt easily swallowed up by Clingan, but he was excellent otherwise. He was great defensively and finished another lob and had a beautiful spin move finish. The Sixers were genuinely executing at a pretty high level on both ends, building 24-19 lead.
- It was an understated but solid start for VJ Edgecombe — until this …
- The Sixers simply did not let up in transition as Edgecombe found Grimes for a lob to cap off a 30-point first quarter for the team. Edwards and Grimes had eight points apiece as the Sixers took a 30-27 lead after one.
Second Quarter
- Even though Edgecombe’s stats weren’t gaudy, his impact was obvious as the Trail Blazers started the second on a run with the rookie on the bench. Give the Sixers credit for pushing back. It was again Grimes and Edwards leading that charge with Cam Payne providing a nice spark off the bench.
- The Sixers had done a decent job on Deni Avdija to start the game, but the All-Star forward started to shake loose a bit. Andre Drummond was giving the Sixers all he could, but Portland had him in a real bind running pick-and-roll with Avdija and Clingan. The Trail Blazers took a 42-41 lead midway through the quarter.
- This was some of the best basketball Grimes has played this season, even with his recent uptick in usage. He was getting downhill and out in transition. The Sixers needed every bit of his 15 points. Fun fact: the Sixers made more threes in the first half Sunday (4) than they did the entire game Saturday (3).
- Kyle Lowry checks in! It was a strange lineup choice as Nick Nurse also went with Tyrese Martin during this stretch, but it’s hard to scrutinize lineup decisions too much with this current group.
- It was a rough shooting half for Edgecombe (3-of-10), but he stuffed the stat sheet otherwise with nine rebounds, three assists and a block. It was a defensive-heavy first half, but the Sixers hung in there, trailing Portland by just one at the break, 54-53.
Third Quarter
- Another scary collision as Clingan crushed Barlow on an attempted dunk on a fast break. It didn’t seem intentional from Clingan, but it felt like one that could rise to the level of a Flagrant 1. Secaucus disagreed as it was just deemed a common foul. In any case, it was Barlow’s third steal.
- Portland isn’t exactly a well-oiled machine offensively, but the Sixers’ defense was excellent for much of the night. The team also appeared to be hunting threes out of the break — all of Edgecombe, Barlow and Edwards nailed a triple. The Sixers were also balanced scoring with four guys in double figures and Payne chipping in nine off the bench. That effort helped them build a 68-61 lead roughly midway through the dreaded third.
- Credit where it’s due — Drummond gave the Sixers some damn good minutes in this one. He had 10 rebounds before he even scored his first points (a hook shot over Clingan, no less). Clingan leads the NBA in offensive rebounds per game, so Drummond’s efforts were much needed. He also led the team in assists at this juncture of the game (4). Another nice Edwards bucket followed by Edgecombe getting to his spot in the midrange and the Sixers held a double-digit advantage, 78-68, in the latter stages of the third.
- Another bucket from Payne and a nice to Drummond to help win the Sixers a third quarter(!) and give them an 82-76 advantage heading to the fourth. Edgecombe with a career-high 12 rebounds and the Sixers held an advanatge on the glass as a team.
Fourth Quarter
- The Sixers did an excellent job on Avdija. He was held scoreless in the third and MarJon Beauchamp had an excellent defensive possession to start third on him. Beauchamp played a big chunk of the third and was stout against Avdija the entire period.
- They needed contributions up and down the roster in this one and they got a few. Beauchamp gave them a nice boost in the third, especially defensively. Trendon Watford was able to get a bucket in the post and draw a foul. Grimes’ aggressiveness also continued as he finished a tough basket on Clingan and then drew a foul a few possessions later. Doesn’t feel hyperbolic to say this might’ve been Grimes’ best game of the season as he eclipsed the 20-point mark.
- And Grimes just kept coming, ripping off four straight points out of a timeout to give the Sixers their largest lead at 101-87, forcing a Portland timeout. Grimes had already put up a season-high 29 points with 5:34 left in the game.
- Things started to get dicey as Avdija started finding looks and Portland started to win more on the offensive glass. The Trail Blazers trimmed the lead down to 101-95 as Nurse wisely went back to Edgecombe and Edwards after a long rest.
- The Sixers’ offense was leaking oil pretty badly as Portland stepped up the defensive intensity. A timely Edgecombe short pull-up and an Edwards’ steal and emphatic dunk over Robert Williams III helped stem the tide.
- And Edgecombe buried a massive midrange jumper over the relentless Toumani Camara which essentially put the game away. That clutch gene sure is prominent in this 20-year-old.
