DALLAS — The 76ers are stacking days with their Big Three.
Paul George is expected to remain primarily at small forward after Kelly Oubre Jr. returns from injury.
Quentin Grimes is adapting to a different role as players return from injury by providing solid defense and taking open shots.
Those things stood out in Thursday’s 123-108 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
Big Three
This marked the second straight game in which the Sixers’ Big Three of Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and George played together. And it’s starting to provide positive results, as they won both games to improve to 18-14.
The Sixers lost the first four games that the Big Three played this season. The trio actually had a nine-game skid, dating back to last season.
Give the Sixers credit. They didn’t panic and believed things would be fine once they developed a rhythm.
“Just trying to get more games with them,” Nick Nurse said. “I think that’s the key that we can move positively. Again, I still say they need more minutes, more rhythm, more time, more conditioning — all that kind of stuff. So the more games we can do in a row, the better. I think I said last time, we’re on five or six or something, we can use a lot more than that, and to have some in a row would be nice.”
Against the Mavs, the Sixers had a balanced attack with Maxey (34 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, two steals, two blocks), VJ Edgecombe (23 points, four steals), Embiid (22 points, six assists, one block), Grimes (19 points), and George (14 points) scoring in double figures.
Embiid is averaging 29.2 points over his last six games after averaging 18.2 in his first nine.
“I feel like I’m getting back to myself,” he said. “Then I think tonight is a perfect example, different than Memphis [on Tuesday, when he scored 34 points]. Memphis, I had to be more aggressive. Tonight … I could make plays for some of the guys, all these guys on the team. So, taking what the defense gives me.
“But physically, where I felt most [like myself] is defensively. I’m getting back to that level of [protecting the rim], blocking shots, and being that defensive presence.”
His play over the last two games is a significant reason for the consecutive victories.
George at the three
George came to the Sixers last season to play small forward. But the plan was for him to slide to power forward while Oubre switched from shooting guard to small forward.
However, with Oubre sidelined for the past 20 games with a lateral collateral ligament injury in his left knee, George has played mostly small forward this season.
And while his shots aren’t falling, George has contributed nicely at the position. In addition to his 14 points, he had seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal with a game-high plus-20 against the Mavs.
Oubre was the X-factor at the position before his injury. That’s why Nurse was asked if he sees George as more of a three or a four once Oubre returns.
“A three, mostly,” Nurse said. “I just think that it does matter who we’re playing. I think it seems to go really one end of the spectrum or the other. Like, it seems like all of a sudden, you are running into a team that’s huge all over the place. Play your big lineups. Then all of a sudden, playing four guards. … So I think that’s when he will go to the four more. But this is a pretty big team tonight, so pretty good chance to play him at the three most of the time.”
George did play some power forward against Dallas when the Sixers went with their three-guard lineups.
So, who will start at power forward? Are the Sixers comfortable moving Oubre from small to power forward once he returns? Or has Dominick Barlow, who made his 19th start on Thursday, entrenched himself as the starting power forward?
“He’s played great,” Nurse said of Barlow, “Nothing to not play his minutes. I think it’s Paul. I think it’s Barlow. Could be a little Oubre. Could be a little [Adem] Bona. But I think it just depends on who we’re playing. Hopefully, we can be versatile enough to figure out what we are doing in all those different lineups. That’s what’s going to take some time.”
Those options might be a good problem for the Sixers to have.
Against the Mavs (12-23), Grimes, Andre Drummond, Jared McCain, Jabari Walker, and Bona came off the bench. Nurse was asked if this could be the deepest team he’s had since taking over the Sixers on June 1, 2023.
“Well, let’s hope so. I don’t want to get carried away,” he said. “I think our last 18 to 20 months have been three guys in, four guys out, three guys in, two guys out. It’s been nonstop. Let’s get about 10 or 12 games under our belt with pretty much everybody healthy, and then we can start worrying about that kind of stuff.”
New role for Grimes
Grimes’ new role with players coming back could be flying around on defense and taking shots as they come.
“Joel is getting a lot more comfortable, getting his rhythm,” he said. “P’s getting his rhythm out there, just me finding my rhythm being in attack mode, taking shots, not thinking about stuff, and that turns into easy offense for us, for sure.”
The combo guard quickly made a defensive impact after entering the game with 7 minutes, 31 seconds left in the first quarter and blocked Cooper Flagg’s drive to the basket 20 seconds later. Then, on his first shot attempt, Grimes buried a corner three-pointer to give the Sixers a 37-35 lead with 9:15 remaining in the half. His three-pointer with 1:49 left in the game gave the Sixers a 118-108 cushion.
“He was great, man, offensively and defensively,” Maxey said. “But we need that from him, night in and night out. He’s kind of a good wild card for us. He can get hot. He can make threes. He can drive the ball. He can play defensively, too. That’s what’s really good for us. He can play with a lot of lineups, too.”
Grimes made 7 of 9 shots — including 5 for 7 from three-point range — along with seven rebounds, two assists, and three blocks. And as the primary defender, he did a solid job of making Flagg (12 points) work for shots.
“Just make it physical for him,” Grimes said of defending Flagg. “I mean, he’s a rookie. He’s got a different little physicality. He’s super talented out there, so I’m trying to be physical with him. I’m trying to make it as hard as possible. I feel like I did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
And none of the Sixers were surprised.
“He really tries on defense, and he has the tools to do it,” Nurse said. “He’s an athlete. He’s strong. He can jump. He got some quickness. I love … the way he takes it to the rim. Still don’t think he does it enough. … He’s explosive. He can move it around up there and score. Obviously, we need his three-point shooting.”
But the Sixers do need to figure out where Grimes and McCain fit in when the team is fully healthy.
They had primary roles during different stages of last season on a depleted team. McCain had to provide the offense at the start of last season while Embiid and George were sidelined.
“At the end last year, Q was like the last [healthy] guy left,” Nurse said. “He kind of had to score. [He] showed some great abilities to do that. I think the key to being a good basketball player is figuring out how you can impact your team to win and play a role a little bit.
“I think they are both still looking and feeling that out.”
