MIAMI — Quentin Grimes’ camp appears unhappy with his postseason use by the Knicks, which has been punctuated by his demotion from the starting lineup to the second unit since returning from a shoulder injury.
A Twitter user identifies himself as Grimes’ business manager with the username Matthew Z. and @mattkeepgoing Posting “Free QG” on the social networking site Shortly after the Knicks lost Game 3 to the Heat on Saturday Night.
Grimes’ manager is known to be Matt Evans, whom the sophomore guard has known since he was a teenager growing up in the Houston area.
The account also responded on Sunday to a video showing Grimes posted by another user asking, “What happened to Quentin Grimes? Bro used to play like Zach LaVine,” referring to the two-time All-Star guard with the Bulls.
“This Quentin Grimes is alive and well and still getting better, the ball is not in his hands to show you better than you know,” tweeted Matthew Z.
Shortly after the tweets went viral on Sunday, a bio that referred to the user as Grimes’ manager was deleted from the account, though the tweets were not deleted.
The 22-year-old Grimes made 66 appearances during the regular season and then the first three games of the opening round against Cleveland before emerging from the last two games with a bruised shoulder.
He came off the bench in all three games against the Heat, ceding his starting spot to acquisition Josh Hart.
Grimes averaged 11.3 points per game in the regular season, but that number dropped to 4.3 over six postseason games. He scored eight points in 22 minutes off the bench in Saturday’s Game 3 loss, but has missed 15 of 18 3-point attempts in the playoffs this year.
Tom Thibodeau said Sunday that “everything is on the table” for Game 4, but didn’t say if he plans to make a lineup change involving Grimes and Hart.
“When you get to the playoffs, you look at the games,” Thibodeau said. “When a guy comes back from injury, does he come back completely healthy?
“So you look at all sides of it. In some ways it could be better. It can affect another area. The bottom line is we all have to play better.”
