Sixers build brick house in road loss to Timberwolves

The Sixers played well for most of three quarters and then got their doors blown off in the fourth, falling to Minnesota in a 126-112 loss on the road.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— We are rapidly approaching the day when we have to ask if the Sixers acquired too good of a player at the deadline. They mostly look dead in the water as a team, whether it’s due to injuries or the mental fatigue of being this deep in a lost season. But Quentin Grimes is on a mission to get every last dollar he can get in free agency, and he is hooping his butt off despite the team falling apart around him.

Grimes looks like the perfect two guard to have in a rotation next to Tyrese Maxey and Jared McCain. He’s the perfect blend of on-ball talent and off-ball comfort, a guy who can act decisively from a standstill or break somebody down if he’s bringing the ball up himself. And Nurse is giving him plenty of opportunities to do the latter — Grimes was effectively the point guard for most of Tuesday’s game, and while he didn’t do anything special as a playmaker, he did an excellent job hunting shots and getting to his spots whenever he wanted.

(Did it help that Rudy Gobert wasn’t around to bother shots around the basket? Of course, but it was still up to Grimes to take advantage of the opportunity.)

What I’ve liked seeing from Grimes is the certainty he plays with as both a shooter and a driver. He doesn’t waste a lot of time before rising into a jumper or attacking a closeout, so defenders have to count their steps and position themselves carefully to avoid conceding a driving lane. He has also shown comfort operating from several different floor spots, attacking from the corners, wings, and above the break with equal certainty.

Though he came here with more of an on-ball stopper’s reputation defensively, he is flashing as an off-ball weapon on that end. Grimes had three steals in Tuesday’s first half, with two coming through great reads as a roamer, moving in from the weakside to dislodge the ball after a teammate did their job on the ball. Both parts of defending will be relevant when the team is actually trying to win games again, so it has been nice to see Grimes hold up his end of the bargain there.

— I genuinely respect the effort Kelly Oubre continues to bring every night. He gives the Sixers a dimension of off-ball movement that they don’t get from most of the group, and that gives him opportunities to play off of guards all over the roster. Even the new guys like Butler look like they’ve played with him for a while, because he moves through space so quickly and purposefully that he’s a wide-open target 80 percent of the time.

A good secondary scoring option and a useful defender, even through these dire times.

— If the Sixers want to attempt to win games, I think they should play Jared Butler more minutes. If the Sixers want to try to lose games, they should play more minutes with Lonnie Walker IV playing point guard (read: taking as many shots as he wants). Butler is a handy enough playmaker and an opportunistic driver who had some nice moments setting up his teammates on Tuesday.

My favorite pass of the bunch was a frozen rope he sent in Andre Drummond’s direction, gifting Philadelphia’s starting center with the easiest two points he’ll ever score.

The Bad

— I don’t know why I continue to expect more from Paul George than he is capable or willing to give. I also don’t understand why George is still out on the floor if the most they can get from him is just floating through games and bricking a bunch of contested pull-up jumpers.

It’s not even interesting to analyze at this point. It’s the same brand of game almost every time out. George hits the occasional midrange jumper over a smaller defender and gets to the rim on a drive every so often, but otherwise, it’s a lot of missed threes and slop. He got the fourth quarter off, which begs the question — why is he playing at all?

— After playing the best game of his season against the Portland Trail Blazers, Andre Drummond came crashing back to Earth on the second half of a back-to-back. Understandable on several fronts, I think. He doesn’t have the legs to play in these consistently yet, and the Wolves played five-out basketball for basically the entire game, which is not an offensive style Drummond copes well with. Drummond was just swinging and missing at air all night, or even worse, swinging at an opponent’s arm for a foul.

Naz Reid was able to bomb away from three with just about zero resistance, because Drummond had no interest in closing the space to cut down on his pick-and-pop opportunities.

— The Wolves made 18 threes. The Sixers made nine. Tough to win that way.

— A team that hangs around for 2.5 quarters only to get effortlessly pulled away from late in the game?

The Ugly

— The Sixers have complained about a lot of calls that were perfectly fine fouls this year, but Nick Nurse had legit beef on a blown call in the first half. Paul George was purposely wrapped up on a missed jumper for Jaden McDaniels, with McDaniels not even pretending to make a play on the ball as he grabbed around George’s chest. In their infinite wisdom, the officials saw fit to rule that a jump ball rather than a foul. Very strange.

Tuesday’s officiating crew also had a few absolutely bizarre rulings on continuation calls, but at least those are a little murkier.

— In the middle of the broadcast, Alaa Abdelnaby made note of the rash of injuries in Dallas, and said something to the effect of there being no point to Anthony Davis returning to the floor this season. It was, in every respect, a cogent analysis of the situation. And hearing that spoken about another team only makes it more ridiculous that the broadcast has to act like state-sponsored media talking about this Sixers team.

And I say “has to” on purpose. I don’t think this is a failure of Kate and Alaa, I think it’s the nature of these local broadcasts. Everyone has to pretend it makes sense that Maxey and PG should play through injuries for a season that is clearly cooked, while being able to accurately and clearly state other teams in similar circumstances should pack it in. Give me a break.