Sixers fall to Hawks despite 35 points from Quentin Grimes

Quentin Grimes put on a show in the Sixers’ loss to the Atlanta Hawks, pouring in a game-high 35 points in a Philadelphia defeat.

Here’s what I saw.

The Good

— Quentin Grimes is playing well enough to force the Sixers into some difficult conversations this summer, I think. He’s the only guy on the scouting report who poses any real danger, and he’s still finding ways to score no matter who else is out there with him. This was a gunner-heavy game for him, admittedly, but what else is he supposed to do in these circumstances?

Grimes’ agent has to be over the moon at what he has been able to show during this recent outburst as a featured guy. We’re talking about stepback threes, in-and-out crossovers, brilliant closeout attacks, and a sprinkling of defense on top of it all. He has taken a huge role on offense almost immediately after arriving in Philadelphia, and with a much bigger workload than he probably expected, there have been no signs of fatigue or letting up.

The only reason this game was remotely close in the fourth quarter was Grimes’ shotmaking. Irrational confidence can tilt the other way when you’re in the middle of a cold spell, but the bucket feels like an ocean for him at the moment, and it doesn’t particularly matter where he’s taking shots from. Atlanta played pretty tough defense on him late in Monday’s game, and he all but ignored their shot contests and reach ins.

If it was not already clear, he must be priority No. 1 among their internal free agents. And thankfully, no matter what he can get on the open market, they’ll have the opportunity to match, even if they might be reaching the point where it would behoove them to sit him and save a few future dollars.

— When Adem Bona was being evaluated ahead of the draft last year, a lot of scouts were hugely concerned about his ability to do basic things on offense. More than one person I spoke to ahead of draft night said they thought he would struggle to do things like execute basic dribble handoffs, for example. That’s a huge deal.

Through that lens, it has been super fun to watch Bona grow in limited minutes this season. He’s still a relatively limited offensive player, but you can certainly ask him to do the basic stuff on offense. He’s catching bounce passes on the roll and swooping with them in one motion to go up for a layup. He’s lingering a bit longer on screens, giving his ballhandler a chance to turn the corner and look for him on the lob. There’s a lot of work left to be done, but I can see the outline of a rotation big.

— Congratulations to Jeff Dowtin for rediscovering how to shoot after the season was written off by the entire fanbase. Very good bit.

— The game ended.

The Bad

— The perils of Lonnie Walker IV, rotation player, have become abundantly clear during his brief period with the team. When he has it rolling as a scorer, you’ll get some sweet scoring flourishes and instant offense in a can. When he doesn’t, well, prepare for a lot of missed jumpers and out of control drives to the basket. And you’re not going to know which guy you’re getting until he checks into the game, but he’s going to probably play the same way regardless.

Honestly, that’s alright, because a better version of this team would relegate him to swing player duty and bench him if he got off to a rough start. But I think it makes more sense why he ended up in Lithuania to start the year after watching him for a little bit the last couple of weeks. Instant offense guys are more plentiful than any other player archetype, so teams are more inclined to gamble on a younger guy with upside.

— I am probably being a little too favorable to him during what has been a meh stretch to start his Sixers career, but I think Jared Butler can be a perfectly capable fourth guard for this team next year. He plays with good pace in pick-and-rolls, in control and always with an eye on the roller for a potential lob.

That said, boy, he is exploitable on defense.

— I am no longer having fun watching Guerschon Yabusele as a small-ball center. When he’s out there to facilitate offense for Tyrese Maxey and open the floor up, I can live with the lack of defense at that spot. When he’s back there offering no resistance in a meaningless game, I just want him to sit down on the bench and hang out with the other guys who are done impacting this season. I am learning nothing and getting nothing from his time on the floor.

— The game began.

The Ugly

— I don’t understand why the Sixers signed Jalen Hood-Schifino to a two-way deal if they were not going to even make him available for games like these. Maybe to use him in the final 15 games of the season when they really shut everyone down? I don’t get it.

— The Atlanta Hawks had about half of a functional ballhandler and shot 6/20 from three in the first half. They still managed to shoot nearly 53 percent from the field while putting 66 points on the board. Philadelphia’s defense is just brutal night in and night out.

At least with this lineup configuration, you can blame it solely on personnel instead of fretting about scheme and setup. How is a starting lineup composed of Butler/Walker/Grimes/Edwards/Yabusele meant to prevent another team from scoring? With two small guards and a guy who can’t protect the rim, they’re either going to get crushed on the initial action or give up an offensive rebound for a basket on the follow. And Atlanta crushed them in the latter department, coming down with 11 offensive rebounds in the first half to make up for the so-so shooting from beyond.

I do hope that one day this will be a team that rebounds the ball effectively. Too many seasons have gone by with Philadelphia looking completely incapable of boxing out or cleaning up a possession after doing the hard work on defense. It may be the only thing I miss about the days of Embiid/Simmons as their franchise building blocks — though they had many issues as a pairing, Simmons’ ability to rebound like a forward made for a great combination with their big man. These days, they’re lucky to outrebound teams who are bad at crashing the glass, so you can forget stopping anyone who is good at it from turning it into a major game storyline.

— Back-to-back games are something I increasingly think the league should get rid of, and I feel even stronger about that when you’re in March and a team is 20 games below .500. Who exactly wanted to watch this version of the Sixers play the Atlanta Hawks in a home-road back-to-back on Monday night? The people reading this story may be the only ones outside of the players’ families. I find it hard to believe the Sixers as an organization wanted to watch this game!