There are some games when you just know right away . And early on in the Sixers' road battle against the Detroit Pistons on Friday night, you just knew they had no shot.
It did not matter that the Sixers had all three of Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George available, or that Quentin Grimes suited up in a Sixers uniform for the first tine. It did not matter that the Pistons were playing without All-Star offensive engine Cade Cunningham. The Sixers found themselves playing catch-up within a few minutes of the game beginning and never came close to erasing a massive deficit, even when Embiid finally found himself and tormented the Pistons in the third quarter.
One team played with aggression, physicality, focus, intensity and organization on Friday night. The other team played with none of that. Here is what stood out from a horrific 125-112 Sixers loss to the short-handed Pistons:
Embiid comes out flat and his teammates follow suit
In his return from a month-long absence on Tuesday night, Embiid posted a 29-point triple-double, dissecting the Dallas Mavericks' strong defense for four quarters. After the game, he talked about how making a point to play with aggression from the outset helped him establish an early rhythm. No such groove was accomplished early on Friday.
Embiid scored three points on 1-for-9 shooting from the field in the entire first half. Embiid missed a few shots he normally makes, but far more often He was beaten down the floor in transition time and time again, surrendered several offensive rebounds and failed to set any sort of tone. The rest of his teammates followed suit, combining poor offensive execution with an inexcusable defensive effort.
The young Pistons, with old friend Tobias Harris at the center of it all, steamrolled the Sixers in the game's first 24 minutes. By the time intermission came around, the Pistons led the Sixers 78-49. And even when Embiid scored 20 points in just the third quarter alone, he and the Sixers had dug themselves too difficult of a hole to emerge from.
Quentin Grimes makes Sixers debut
Grimes was one of the Sixers' first three substitutions, checking into the game alongside Kyle Lowry and Adem Bona after seven minutes and change. While Grimes would typically be called a shooting guard, his first minutes as a Sixer came at the three in a lineup centered around Tyrese Maxey and Kyle Lowry. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse likes to use Lowry as the director of zone defenses when he goes to his second unit, and after a rough defensive spurt for the team's starters, Lowry was called upon to help stabilize things a bit as a back-line defender.
While Grimes did help Kelly Oubre Jr. force a pick-six turnover, it was his offense that stood out early. He scored his first points as a Sixer at the free throw line after drawing a foul on a cut, and his first basket came on a rapid fire catch-and-shoot triple from the corner:
first FG as a Sixer: ✔️@qdotgrimes pic.twitter.com/c3yjW8ANL2
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) February 8, 2025
Early in the second quarter, Grimes attacked a closeout from the opposite corner, driving to the basket and finishing through contact at the rim. His first stint on the floor lasted just over nine minutes, and he scored seven points on three shot attempts. The expectations were rightfully low, as Grimes' only on-court work with his new teammates as a shootaround on Friday morning, but he showed some good signs early. Grimes returned to the floor for the final three minutes and 19 seconds of the first half, but by that point the game had devolved into something only vaguely reflective of an NBA basketball game that it was nearly impossible to evaluate anything.
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Grimes' integration into what the Sixers do will be an ongoing process over the next few games, with the All-Star break likely serving as a helpful period in which he can become more familiar with the team's schemes. But his skill set makes him a player who should never have too much trouble adjusting to a new environment.
Odds and ends
Some more notes from Friday's game:
• Guerschon Yabusele missed this game due to knee soreness, and Andre Drummond was available for the first time since Jan. 21. Yet it was the rookie Bona who backed up Embiid in the first half, and Drummond only joined the action in the closing moments of the first half after Bona went down following a hit to the face. In the second half, Bona returned to the backup center role. It will be interesting to monitor if Drummond was merely available in an emergency or if Bona has surpassed the veteran in the depth chart.
• Jared Butler, the Sixers' other trade deadline acquisition, was inactive in this one. Butler remains on a two-way deal for now, and the Sixers are limited in how many more games they can use two-way players while staying below 15 players on their standard roster. Expect some roster movement in the days to come.
• For what it's worth, there was one Sixer who played well in the first half: Oubre scored 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field prior to intermission. After a lackluster possession of transition defense from Oubre and Embiid in the third quarter, the ESPN broadcast showed footage of the two Kansas products engaging in a bit of a shouting match on the bench during a timeout. It seems that Maxey played peacemaker, and by the end of the interaction, Embiid and Oubre were hugging with smiles on their faces.
• With Pistons centers Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart in foul trouble, former Sixers backup center Paul Reed received a rotation cameo in the third quarter. Predictably, chaos ensued, as Reed and Embiid faced off in live action for the first time. It was entertaining on a night when not much else was, if nothing else.
Up next: The Sixers will complete a quick two-game road trip on Sunday afternoon. They will face the Milwaukee Bucks in what is sure to be the most important sporting event in the country that day.
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