PHILADELPHIA — In 24 hours, Quentin Grimes went from “situational” to starter.
After saying on Thursday he wasn’t ready to make any changes following the ugly loss to the Hawks, Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau pulled a stunner Friday night. He inserted his second-year guard into the starting lineup over Evan Fournier for what became a 106-104 victory over the shorthanded 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.
Grimes made his season debut against the Hawks on Wednesday after missing the first six games with a sore left foot that also cost him the entire preseason. Grimes only played in the final minutes of that game in garbage time, and Thibodeau said afterward he would be used on a “situational” basis.
That changed on Friday.
“We didn’t have an opportunity to get a look at Quentin [in the starting lineup] in the preseason,” Thibodeau said. “We were going to evaluate it then. So this gives us an opportunity to do it now.”
Grimes scored just two points in 15 minutes and produced a woeful minus-20 rating. Thibodeau closed out the game with Cam Reddish, who was one of the best Knicks in the game, scoring 11 points and hitting all four of his field goal attempts. Afterward, Thibodeau was vague on his plan at shooting guard.
“There’s nothing set in stone,” Thibodeau said. “It’ll be game by game, get a look at different guys.”
Fournier had gotten off to a slow start, shooting 40.2 percent from the field and struggling on defense. In the loss to the Hawks, in which the Knicks blew a 23-point, second-quarter lead, Fournier was minus-20 in 18 minutes, and the Knicks were nearly minus-20 per 100 possessions with him on the floor. As part of the second unit, Fournier scored two points in 14 minutes against the 76ers.
The 6-foot-4 Grimes showed impressive glimpses last season as a rookie in 46 games as a 3-and-D guard, and was one of the best players in the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 22.6 points, 4.0 assists, 3.4 3-pointers and posting a plus-10 rating. But his sore left foot, which caused him to miss most of training camp, limited him to just one preseason game, and discomfort returned the following day.
On Thursday, Thibodeau didn’t sound ready to make any changes, deflecting the ugly stats of the Knicks’ starting five: a minus-9.2 rating per 100 possessions and a defensive rating of 116.9, which would be 27th in the league.
“You wanna make sure that you get a good look at everything,” he said, and added: “It’s hard to just put it on one particular group.”
Last season, Thibodeau didn’t change his starting lineup until the 20th game of the season. But after three straight losses dropped the Knicks to 3-4 this season, he pulled the trigger.
“Just want to get a look at it,” Thibodeau said. “We’ll see if this helps us at different points. But nothing is set in stone.”