One game after Quentin Grimes found his way back to the Knicks’ starting lineup, he provided the ultimate workhorse performance at both ends of the court to help extend the season.
Both Grimes and point guard Jalen Brunson played the entirety of the Knicks’ season–extending Game 5 victory over the Heat, with the second-year guard handling much of the responsibility again of defending six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler in the Knicks’ 112–103 victory at the Garden.
“He’s probably been the best player of the playoffs so far. So knowing I have that matchup every night, I have to be more disciplined and probably have to play 48,” Grimes said. “Forty eight or 25, it really doesn’t matter to me. I’ve just got to make sure I’m locked in on him defensively and try to do whatever I can to slow him down.”
Grimes had been re-inserted into the starting lineup Monday for the first time since missing two games after suffering a shoulder injury in Game 3 of the Cleveland series.
He came off the bench in each of the first two games against the Heat, but with Josh Hart in foul trouble, Wednesday night, Thibodeau stuck with Grimes the whole way.
“I was planning initially on having Jalen and Quentin come out, but the way the game unfolded, the way we were in foul trouble, I knew we couldn’t do that.
“One thing about Quentin, I think he spaces the floor for us differently. But he is a two-way player. He is a hustle player. Jimmy’s gonna make you work, and you gotta make him work. And so I thought he did as good a job as you can do.”
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Knicks vs. Heat NBA playoff series
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- Knicks battle but fall in season-ending Game 6 loss to Heat
- Knicks couldn’t survive two minutes without Brunson
- Brunson’s heroic night spoiled by late turnover
Grimes scored eight points, all in the first half, including two 3-pointers.
One of his two steals was a pick of Butler’s pocket late in the fourth quarter after Grimes had been hobbled while running through a screen earlier in the possession.
“I had just bent my knee on the screen, but it’s the playoffs,” Grimes said. “You have to do whatever you can to win. It’s what you live for, it’s what you watched as a kid. So I knew I was hurt a little bit, but it’s not going to stop me from doing whatever I can to get a stop or disrupt the play.”