Team Joakim guard Quentin Grimes (6) drives past Team Jason guard Sidy Cissoko (25) in the 2023 NBA All Star Rising Stars Game at Vivint Arena. / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Knicks shooting guard Quentin Grimes put his peers and the rest of the league on notice at the 2023 Rising Stars Game on Friday night.
Making the starting five for Team Joakim alongside Josh Giddey, Evan Mobley, Jabari Smith Jr. and Jeremy Sochan in the semi-final round against Team Jason, Grimes was heavily involved from the beginning.
He started off his night with an alley-oop dunk and then sunk a three-pointer to put his team up by six. After another two-point basket, Grimes got to the rim once again with a dunk and after a steal, he tried bringing the house down with a vicious dunk attempt but was fouled.
With his team just needing three more points to move on to the final round, Grimes picked the pocket of NBA G League standout Scoot Henderson and iced the game with a triple. He finished the game with 13 points on 2-of-3 from deep and added two steals.
But it turns out that was just the precursor to his night as Grimes caught fire from downtown in the final round.
Facing Team Pau, Grimes once again got the start and scored his team’s first two baskets, both from deep. In perhaps his most impressive shot of the night, the 22-year-old corralled an errant pass, spun around, gathered himself and swished his third three of the game to cut Team Joakim’s deficit to a single point.
On the next possession, Grimes pulled up from three once again and splashed it to tie the game as he began the game 4-of-5 from three-point range. After a missed heat check, Grimes gave his team an 18-16 lead with a baseline layup.
That turned out to be Team Joakim’s last lead of the game as Team Pau finished the game on a 9-2 run after putting Jose Alvarado, who drained the game-winning three, on Grimes.
Grimes scored 14 of his team’s 20 points and went 4-of-7 from three. In the two games, he totaled 27 points, shooting 6-of-10 from behind the arc.
“It was great,” Grimes said about the night. “It was everything I could have imagined watching it as a kid growing up, all the stars coming into this game and going on in their great careers. So, I couldn’t ask for a better night for me really.”
After catching fire from deep on a national stage at the Rising Stars Game, is the three-point contest now on Grimes’ radar down the road?
“I think it is,” he said. “I mean, it’s something that I pride myself on, is shooting the ball really at a high level. So, I feel like the three-point competition would be down the road for me moving forward.”
