After going down by as much as 13 in the third quarter, the Philadelphia 76ers turned in a dominant performance the rest of the way, coming back and ultimately routing the Boston Celtics on the road to win Game 5 and stay alive. And a major part of their victory was Quentin Grimes, who was absolutely splendid off the bench.
Grimes finished the night with 18 markers, which is a playoff career-high for him. In just 24 minutes of gameplay, he drained five of his eight shots, including four of seven from the three-point line. He was a +18 against the Cetlics, the second-highest mark on the team behind Paul George.
For the most part in their first-round series, it seemed like Grimes was poised to get jettisoned in free agency given how meek he has looked on the hardwood. But now, after having played well over the last couple of games, the 76ers might just have created another dilemma, albeit something they would gladly take right now.
The 76ers face a good problem with Quentin Grimes after another impressive showing
Grimes will be hitting the open market anew this year after missing out on his well-documented escapade gto extract a huge payday from the 76ers last summer. Given his meh campaign this season and his initially waning performance in the playoffs, it appeared like Philly had the ultimate say on his fate in free agency.
But now that he is back to playing the brand of basketball expected of him, his camp might be getting some hopes back that Grimes will be able to fetch a more lucrative offer.
Obviously, that is quite arbitrary given that the last two games are not going to be the tell-all for his market value, but the 76ers, at this point in time, would gladly take that kind of uncertainty. The Celtics are too good for Philly to keep playing predictably on the offensive end, so getting solid contributions from Grimes will go a long way.
Now, with the series heading back to Philly for the final time, the 76ers will once again count on Quentin Grimes to reprise his role as a bench catalyst, even if that means slightly gouging his price tag in free agency and making it more difficult to deal with his camp.
After all, desperate times call for desperate measures –– and all else do not matter if this team does not stay alive.
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