PHI 139, MEM 129: Payne Rains 8 Threes
Tommy Flanagan
Journeyman Electrician ยท Boston Celtics fan
76ers Roll Past Grizzlies Behind Bench Explosion, Big Three Nowhere to Be Found
Philadelphia 139, Memphis 129
So here's the thing that's gonna haunt Sixers fantasy owners all week: their three best players combined for zero points. I'm not exaggerating. Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Tyrese Maxey all sat this one out, and somehow the Sixers still won by 10 on the road. That's not a feel-good story if you drafted any of those guys in the third round. That's a nightmare.
But also, it's the wildest proof of depth I've seen all season. Let me break down what actually happened.
Top Fantasy Performers
| Player | ESPN FP | Yahoo FP | Tonight | Season Avg | +/- Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Payne | 91.0 | 65.6 | 32/3/10 | 4.4/1.5/2.4 | +27.6 |
| Kelly Oubre Jr. | 45.0 | 51.9 | 30/12/1 | 14.3/4.7/1.8 | +15.7 |
| VJ Edgecombe | 44.0 | 41.5 | 21/5/5 | 15.3/5.5/3.9 | +5.7 |
| Cedric Coward | 36.0 | 38.7 | 13/16/3 | 13.4/6.2/2.8 | -0.4 |
| Ty Jerome | 40.0 | 36.4 | 26/2/8 | 19.4/2.8/5.4 | +6.6 |
| Quentin Grimes | 28.0 | 33.6 | 23/3/2 | 12.8/3.6/3.4 | +10.2 |
| Javon Small | 29.0 | 28.5 | 12/5/7 | 8.0/2.9/3.5 | +4.0 |
| Olivier-Maxence Prosper | 27.0 | 25.2 | 11/6/0 | 8.1/3.2/1.0 | +2.9 |
| Trendon Watford | 25.0 | 22.8 | 11/4/2 | 6.2/3.4/2.5 | +4.8 |
| Taylor Hendricks | 20.0 | 20.0 | 8/5/2 | 6.5/3.4/0.9 | +1.5 |
Cameron Payne Just Broke Fantasy Basketball
Let's start with the elephant in the room: Cameron Payne went absolutely nuclear. 32 points on 9-10 shooting with 10 assists and 8 threes in 30 minutes. That's 65.6 Yahoo points, which is north of what a lot of All-NBA guys put up on a given night. His season average is 4.4 points per game. Four point four. He was up nearly +28 against his norm.
This is the thing about backup point guards in the NBA right now. When your starters are out, you don't just get a fill-in. You get someone who's been waiting for 20 minutes a night to absolutely prove he can ball. Payne had 6 of his 8 threes in the first half alone. This wasn't a gradual feel-out thing. Memphis couldn't adjust fast enough.
The question every one of you is asking: is this repeatable? Honest answer? No. Not at this level. He'll be owned in like 2% of leagues tomorrow morning and 65% by next week, and he'll average 7 points for the rest of the season. That's just how fantasy works with these deep bench guys. But if he's available in your league right now, grab him for the next 48 hours just in case, because Sixers games without their top three are going to happen again this season, and Payne just proved he can handle the load.
Kelly Oubre Jr. and Quentin Grimes Actually Showed Up
While Payne was doing Payne things, the Sixers' wing rotation decided to remind everyone they exist. Kelly Oubre Jr. finished with 51.9 Yahoo points on 30 buckets and 12 rebounds. That's 15.7 points above his season average in just 37 minutes. 9 of 11 free throws tells you the Sixers were attacking the rim all night.
Quentin Grimes chipped in 33.6 Yahoo points with 23 points and went 11-13 from the line. Another dude who benefited from the "let's just attack defensively undermanned Memphis" game plan. These are role players putting up starter numbers because the matchups lined up perfectly.
Here's what I'm taking away: in leagues where you need depth, Oubre and Grimes are still your guys going forward. This wasn't a one-off for either of them the way Payne was. They're regular contributors who had great nights. But expect them to come back down to earth once Maxey and George are back.
Memphis Shot Up a Flare, But It's Not Enough
On the other side, Ty Jerome had himself a game too. 26 points with 8 assists, 10 of 20 shooting, and 4 threes. That's a solid +6.6 against his season average. He looked like the engine of the Grizzlies for stretches and went 36.4 Yahoo points. Respectful line.
Cedric Coward led the team in rebounding with 16 boards and added 13 points. That's a weird statline in that he basically went into rebounder mode, but in Yahoo's scoring system it worked out to 38.7 points. Against his season average, he was down a tenth of a point, which tells you this was just a volume night. If you're holding him, this doesn't change your opinion.
The problem for Memphis overall is that nobody else stepped up consistently. Javon Small had 28.5 Yahoo on 12 points and 7 assists off the bench, which is nice, but that's still 8-man-deep territory for a team that needed someone next to Jerome to go off. The Grizzlies looked disorganized without their full lineup, and fantasy-wise that cost a lot of their role guys.
The Injury Elephant That Ate the Game
Real talk: both teams were operating on empty. The Sixers were missing their top three scorers. Memphis had key guys out too. This game tells us almost nothing about what either team looks like at full strength. It's a fun waiver wire lab experiment and nothing more.
If you have Payne sitting on your bench, sure, he could go off again. But the next time the Sixers are healthy, he's back to 20 minutes and 4 points. That's just the nature of the backup PG role in modern basketball.
Oubre and Grimes stay in the mix for deep leagues. Jerome was solid but nothing that changes the Memphis narrative. Everyone else who went off tonight? Check back in two weeks when rotations stabilize.
The real story here is that two NBA teams with injury issues went to war and the team with better depth won. In fantasy terms, that just means keep an eye on your waiver wire for the next "backup guard goes off" moment, because it's coming again. But don't blow your budget on Payne. You already know how this ends.