A team designed to lose was threatening to orchestrate an absolute disaster for the hosting Sixers.
Grimes had the space after jabbing his right leg out, pushing off the floor for a step-back. A 24-foot dagger. To give Grimes 25 points in the game. To give the Sixers a five-point lead with 42 seconds left in regulation.
To save Philadelphia from a colossal embarrassment. A VJ Edgecombe nine-foot pull-up with 7:39 to play in the third quarter gave the Sixers a 28-point lead. They were well on their way to a rare decisive win.The Nets won the third quarter by one. Brooklyn went on a 28-9 run to open the fourth quarter, a wing 3 from Etienne with 3:23 to play completing a 29-point turnaround.A team designed to lose was threatening to orchestrate an absolute disaster for the hosting Sixers. A loss would be beyond demoralizing. The Portland Trail Blazers were coming to visit the Sixers on Sunday, the second leg of a back-to-back. A three-game losing streak heading into a west road trip was staring them right in the face.After the Nets and Sixers traded baskets for a few minutes, Grimes issued the knockout punch to stave off a brutal collapse.Grimes attempted five mid-range jumpers in the final 12 minutes. He made three of them.On Saturday, 10 of Grimes' 22 field goal attempts were mid-range jumpers. "Well, right now he's got to score. I think that he did what he saw today. They're pressing him up really hard to get him inside the line," Nick Nurse told reporters after the victory on Saturday afternoon. "He takes off on the dribble, they're pulling guys quickly. He's been pretty explosive at the rim lately. He just knew that that was the tier he needed to score from today." "Just different personnel out there on the court. I have the ball a little bit more in my hand. There's a little more space. Defenses are just keying into the 3 ball and driving and stuff like that," Grimes added. "So just trying to get to my spot, wherever it's open, try to take what the defense gives me. Today, the mid-range happened to be one of those shots that I was able to get and knock down at a high level."Edwards scored eight points in the first half. He notched 11 in the second half to finish second on the team in scoring. " kind of carried us and obviously Justin was really big. I think those two guys in the fourth were really important," Nurse said.He gave the Sixers answers on offense at a time when they usually implode. Perhaps the biggest development for Edwards is that he's showing more confidence attacking off the bounce. Not only is he acting on driving lanes, but he's also trusting his counter moves when defenders wall off the drive."Obviously he scored the ball with some nice decisions and moves in there. Bunch of turning into the middle of the paint, 12 or 13 feet. Nice decisions," Nurse said of Edwards after the victory. Edwards has struggled to find consistent minutes this season. He has mature perspective on his situation, keeping his mind focused on preparing for the opportunities when they come. It helps that Nurse, a vocal fan of Edwards, keeps an open line of communication with him about his role on the team. It's no secret Nurse wants him to hone in on rebounding, defending and shooting. All things you'd ask of a prototypical 3-and-D role player. The defense has been mostly down. The rebounding has been nearly non-existent. The shooting has been up and down. Showing that he can be trusted to get to a secondary shot if the primary one is taken away would be critical to Edwards staying in games. "I've always had it. But that's something I do in my workout a lot. It presented itself a lot today. So I just took the shot because I was comfortable with it," Edwards said of his counter move, a spin or pull-up into a jumper by the foul line.He refuses to think too deeply about the difference between a simulated environment and the actual game. "The way my workouts are, it's like game actions. The same shots I will get in the game are the same shots I will shoot in the workout. Only thing that's different is there's someone closing out to me," Edwards said. In the second-year pro's eyes, the Sixers should fly in the face of analytics. They're 22nd in the league in mid-range attempts, per CTG. Most of their shots come at the rim. Edwards would like to see his team make the mid-range a more balanced part of its shot diet. "That shot is open a lot. The mid-range, I feel like we should shoot that more. But, you know, just take the open shot honestly. If it's open, it's open. If it's not, look for something else," he said. With Donovan Clingan standing opposite the Sixers on Sunday, it might just be the right time to take his suggestion.Austin Krell has covered the Sixers beat since the 2020-21 NBA season. Previous outlets include 97.3 ESPN and OnPattison.com. He also covered the NBA, at large, for USA Today. When he’s not consuming basketball in some form, he’s binge-watching a tv show, enjoying a movie, or listening to a music playlist on repeat.
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