GRADES: Philadelphia 76ers 90, Memphis Grizzlies 83

The Philadelphia 76ers won their first mid-season scrimmage behind a strong performance from new-look Ben Simmons

In their first real basketball game in four months, the Philadelphia 76ers took no time at all to shake off the rust and handle the Grizzlies. The new starting lineup, featuring Shake Milton at point guard and Ben Simmons‘ move to power forward, kicked off a 28-4 first-quarter run and the team never looked back.

Though the Grizzlies clearly weren’t yet up to full speed, the Sixers defense smothered their Ja Morant-led offensive attack. During one particularly impressive moment early in the game, the Sixers held the Memphis squad scoreless for a six-minute stretch during which Simmons racked up two steals and the team forced eight turnovers.

The spotlight for the Sixers was on the revamped starting lineup’s offensive fit, and while the team’s offense looked vanilla compared to what we’ll likely see come playoff time, Simmons and Milton both looked at home in their new roles. Milton initiated and ran the halfcourt offense, while Simmons saw more touches facing up at the elbow and even knocked down a corner 3. In transition, though, Simmons still pushed the ball and was his usual explosive self — in the second quarter, Simmons threw a gorgeous no-look lob to Tobias Harris.

Not everything about the Sixers was new, exciting, and impressive: Tobias Harris and stalwart big man Joel Embiid played the same roles as usual on offense, and both put up fairly pedestrian numbers in their limited minutes. Al Horford also looked slow and out of sync in his minutes at backup center, and the team suffered its typical third-quarter collapse. The team’s flashes of brilliance early on — and 26-point halftime lead while the team’s real lineups shared the floor — leave lots of reasons for optimism once the real season restart begins.

Rookie YouTuber and defensive stud Matisse Thybulle left his mark on the game, picking up a steal in his first defensive possession and throwing down a two-hand poster dunk early in the second quarter.

Josh Richardson, despite not seeing many of his minutes alongside Joel Embiid — which became a staple in the team’s offense before the season suspension — added six points on 2-for-4 shooting from the field.

Glenn Robinson knocked down a three and finished a nasty reverse dunk in his first few minutes of play, but didn’t do much else in his 14 minutes of play.

The Grizzlies, buoyed by their impressive 3-point shooting in the second half, nearly pulled off a comeback in the last few minutes of the game, cutting the Sixers lead to five with under a minute left. Most of the Sixers’ collapse, though, can be attributed to Memphis leaving in their starting lineup in the fourth quarter while Philly gave heavy minutes to bench players like Raul Neto, Kyle O’Quinn, and Marial Shayok (who, incidentially, knocked down two late free throws to clinch the game).

The Philadelphia 76ers will play their next scrimmage on NBA TV against the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday, July 26 at 12:00 PM E.T.