When Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors come to town, the expectation is that the greatest shooter to ever live will steal the show. And on Saturday night, Curry was terrific in Philadelphia. But the Sixers snapped their nine-game losing streak because Quentin Grimes, the fourth-year trade acquisition, outperformed one of the all-time greats, pouring in 44 points on an absurd 18-for-24 shooting line.
With Grimes leading the way, the Sixers found their way back into the win column on a night many expected to feel like a funeral of sorts. The day after Joel Embiid's season was officially ended, the Sixers came to play against a rolling Warriors team which was without Jimmy Butler. While many contributed to the Sixers' victory, the headliner was Grimes, who continues to excel with his new team.
Here is what stood out from a surprising 126-119 Sixers victory:
Quentin Grimes dazzles
Grimes was absolutely brilliant in this game, posting what was by far his best performance as a Sixer and registering one of the better showings by any member of the team in quite a while.
Grimes was outstanding in the first half, helping the Sixers withstand an early Curry onslaught by scoring 12 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting line in the first quarter. Grimes displayed a very enticing blend of scoring chops at all three levels, continuing to force folks to adjust their conceptions of his fit within the construct of this team moving forward. He finished the first half with 20 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc, capped off with this buzzer-beating triple:
***** the real exclamation point! https://t.co/elfZ1jxeEU pic.twitter.com/jIhLLi425k
β Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 2, 2025
While one might have expected Grimes to cool off after halftime, he did just the opposite. Grimes added another 14 points in just the first five minutes of action in the third quarter, and once again, his scoring was coming in a wide variety of fashions. By the time the third quarter had ended, Grimes was up to 38 points, surpassing his previous career high of 36.
new career-high 3β£8β£ points for @qdotgrimes π€© pic.twitter.com/Ja3jtlY83N
β Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 2, 2025
Grimes has far more juice as an on-ball scorer than anybody expected him to show when he arrived in Philadelphia, signaling further room for improvement for the 24-year-old who will become a restricted free agent this summer. Most expected Grimes to slot in as a 3-and-D role player, but he has quickly earned not just more opportunities to show off his scoring capabilities, but also become the team's backup point guard.
As the Sixers weigh potential offers to make Grimes in June or July β or the caliber of offer sheet they would be willing to match if another team makes a run at him β having a firm understanding of exactly how much on-ball responsibility he can handle will be crucial. Grimes is quickly showing far more aptitude in those spots than anyone realized he had, and it could do wonders for his market in a few months.
Goggles on, Guerschon Yabusele steps back into key role
As he discussed how his team would adjust without Embiid, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse singled out a few players. One of them was someone who has quietly struggled a bit of late: Guerschon Yabusele, one of the lone genuine bright spots of this hellish season. Yabusele, a power forward by trade, has often been far more productive as a small-ball center for the Sixers, and he will return to that being his primary role for the time being, though Nurse said Yabusele could log minutes at the four next to Andre Drummond if a matchup calls for it.
Ultimately, Nurse said, the Sixers need "Yabu back to Yabu," while admitting the 29-year-old has been banged up of late. The most recent ailment was a pair of eye injuries, which prevented Yabusele from playing in Wednesday night's loss to the New York Knicks. After the team's Friday practice, Yabusele said he felt like he could not see for close to 24 hours, but quickly recovered. He was adamant that the hope was he could play without any sort of protective eyewear, but before the game it became clear that he was going to wear goggles:
π mode activated. @SternCohenLaw1 pic.twitter.com/pUBfpkXpC9
β Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 2, 2025
Yabusele was so productive as a center because his excellence as a three-point shooter can be leveraged more easily when he is matched up with bigger, slower players. Yabusele came off the bench in this one with Drummond starting, but immediately upon checking in, Yabusele got to work. He knocked down a pair of early triples, helping the Sixers establish optimal floor spacing for a lineup which made a massive run between the end of the opening frame and the first handful of minutes in the second quarter.
YABU! π pic.twitter.com/7aCcPLI1GL
β Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 2, 2025
Yabusele ended up knocking down three more triples, including two from the corner in crunch time:
YABU YA! pic.twitter.com/2eni3R8esr
β Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) March 2, 2025
His skill as a long-range sniper is hard to believe; Yabusele has hovered around 40 percent from beyond the arc all season and entered this game shooting 39.2 percent from beyond the arc on 3.8 attempts per game. Yabusele's improvement as a three-point shooter during his five-year stint overseas was well-documented, but nobody expected his stroke to be this reliable for the Sixers. It is yet another reason he is also in line for a significant pay raise this summer.
Nurse, Steve Kerr react to Embiid being shut down
Nurse's media availability prior to Saturday's game was his first since the Sixers shut down Embiid. Naturally, Nurse expressed sadness for what Embiid has endured this season and the toll it has all taken on not just the former MVP, but the entire team.
Nurse, who said he was "disappointed on a lot of fronts," said that a specific course of action to treat Embiid's knee had still not yet been determined. He spoke about his focus on keeping the players available locked in and focused despite the difficult circumstances ahead of them with 24 games left in the regular season.
"My priority is to get this team to play with great effort and try to figure out how to win some games," Nurse said.
Moments later, Kerr entered the room and sat at the same podium. He fielded a few questions about Embiid, his starting center for Team USA during much of the 2024 Olympics.
"I feel badly for him and the Sixers," Kerr said. "Our league is so dependent on stars and great players⦠I want him to succeed and have a great run and a great next few years with Philly, so very disappointing."
Kerr spoke extensively about how Embiid came up large down the stretch against Nikola JokiΔ and Serbia, the one game he felt Team USA would need Embiid. He declined to speculate on whether playing in the Olympics ended up impacting Embiid's left knee, merely saying "it's all about how you bounce back" and expressing hope that Embiid would do just that.
Odds and ends
Some more notes from South Philadelphia:
β’ A cool sight to see: Sixers rookie Jared McCain watching Curry, a player he has long idolized, go through his famous pregame warmup routine. McCain was seated in the front row and was singularly focused on Curry. For 15 minutes, McCain did not move a muscle as he watched the greater shooter to ever live rain down shots from all over the floor.
β Sam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) March 2, 2025
Curry embraced McCain before returning to the locker room.
β’ Also in the building for this one: Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, who was showered with warm greetings from everyone he crossed paths with, including diehard Eagles fan Kyle Lowry.
β’ Nurse stuck with the struggling Lonnie Walker IV as his eighth man, and in the final spot of his regular rotation, he went to a traditional backup point guard. In a very surprising turn, that floor general was not Jared Butler, but two-way ball-handler Jeff Dowtin Jr., a favorite of Nurse's who has been out of the picture for months and was leapfrogged by Butler in the point guard pecking order at the trade deadline. Dowtin gave the Sixers a nice burst scoring five points on 2-for-2 shooting with a pair of assists in seven minutes. The Sixers outscored Golden State by 11 points during that stint, pulling ahead by double-digits with one of their best two-way stretches in recent memory. Dowtin has been active for 36 NBA games now, which means he can be active for 14 more unless his contract is converted to a standard deal.
β’ Drummond has had a very rough season, but to his credit, he showed in the first half what the Sixers had hoped to see from him all season. Drummond nearly collected a double-double prior to intermission, scoring 10 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Up next: The Sixers return to action on their home floor when they face the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.
Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam
Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice