Quentin Grimes may not be the best player the Dallas Mavericks traded away last month, but the Philadelphia 76ers seem awfully happy to have him.
The newly acquired guard aims to build off the best game of his career Sunday when the Sixers host the road-weary Portland Trail Blazers.
In his first nine games since coming over in a deal with Dallas, Grimes has scored in double figures seven times for Philadelphia. He posted a 30-point game Feb. 12 against the Brooklyn Nets and topped that performance Saturday with a career-high 44 points on 18-of-24 shooting in a win over the Golden State Warriors.
“He was on one tonight,” Sixers coach Nick Nurse said afterward. “It’s pretty cool to see.”
Grimes had been quiet in his previous two games, totaling 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting in those contests. Both of those games resulted in Philadelphia losses, as the team had been mired in a nine-game losing streak prior to the win over Golden State.
“It’s a big confidence boost,” Grimes said. “It was a lot of games that we were close and that we should have won, so I feel like with this game, it was a game that we had to come together collectively within the last two, three minutes of the game. … We could have lost that game easily but we stuck together, stayed tough and that feels like a game that we can build on.”
In order to build on Saturday’s performance, the Sixers will need more out of Tyrese Maxey, who shot just 2-of-14 against the Warriors. In fact, the whole team will need to increase their contributions with Joel Embiid (knee) out for the remainder of the season.
Speaking of sidelined stars, the Cleveland Cavaliers rested Donovan Mitchell on Sunday against the Trail Blazers. Portland went on to lead by 18 in the third quarter before Cleveland stormed back for a 133-129 overtime victory.
“I’m obviously super proud of the way we fought, the way we handled the game,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “I mean, shoot, we were up most of the game, knowing that obviously this team was gonna fight. But we were fighting as well.”
Deni Avdija was one of the bright spots for the Trail Blazers, racking up 30 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first career triple-double.
“It’s hard for me to think about the triple-double right now because I wanted to win,” Avdija said. “I don’t think about it right now, but maybe tomorrow it’ll make me smile a little bit. But I worked hard, worked hard and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates making some tough shots.”
Portland had won its previous four games, including the first three games of its current road trip. The seven-game trek continues in Philadelphia, followed by challenging contests in Boston and Oklahoma City.
By the time the Trail Blazers play their next home game, it will have been over two weeks since they took the court at Moda Center.
This is the second and final meeting between the Blazers and Sixers this season. Philadelphia posted a 125-103 win at Portland on Dec. 30 as Embiid scored 37 points and Maxey chipped in 23.
–Field Level Media
