Quentin Grimes made the unexpected happen.

The Golden State Warriors came into the Wells Fargo Center Saturday night favored to extend the 76ers’ losing streak.

But Grimes scored a career-high 44 points in their 126-119 victory, snapping their skid at nine games. It was the Sixers’ longest losing streak since dropping 12 straight during the 2015-16 season. Back then, they finished 10-72, the second-worst record in franchise and NBA history.

The 1972-73 Sixers finished the season at 9-73.

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Saturday’s victory improved the Eastern Conference’s 11th-place team to 21-38. They’re three games behind the 10th-place Chicago Bulls for the conference’s final Play-In Tournament spot with 23 games remaining.

“This is a big confidence boost,” Grimes said of the victory. “There were a lot of games that we were close and should have won [during the skid]. So I feel like with this game, we had a game, it was a game where we had to come together collectively within the last two or three minutes of the game … We could have lost that game easily, but we stuck together, stayed tough. So it’s a good win. Build on this and keep the momentum rolling.”

This was the first game for the Sixers after announcing Friday that Joel Embiid would be shut down for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, the Warriors (32-28) were without Jimmy Butler, who was dealing with back spasms.

But this game was full of star-studded play.

Grimes’ career-high night came on 18-for-24 shooting — including making 6 of 9 three-pointers to go with six rebounds and two steals. This was his second game with at least 30 points since being acquired via a trade from the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 6.

The fourth-year veteran joins Luka Dončić as the NBA’s only guard to record a game with at least 40 points, five rebounds, and two steals this season.

Grimes made his first six shots and had 20 points at the half on 8-for-9 shooting.

“I’ve had 20-point halves in the past,” he said. “But I think in the third quarter, I ran off like … 11 straight, I was kind of like, ‘Ok, I’m kind of feeling it tonight for sure.’”

His performance was desperately needed with standouts Paul George (five points, 2-for-8 shooting) and Tyrese Maxey (four points, 2-for-11) both struggling through three quarters.

George would add 12 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 17. Maxey had 11 assists for the game but had five points on 2-for-14 shooting.

But Kelly Oubre Jr. (20 points), Guerschon Yabusele (18), and Andre Drummond (10 points, 14 rebounds) all stepped up.

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Meanwhile, Stephen Curry showed why he’s one of the game’s all-time greats. The Golden State point guard finished with 29 points and a game-high 13 assists to go with five rebounds.

With Curry leading the way, the Warriors battled back from a 15-point deficit to knot the score at 112 off a layup from Gary Payton II with 4 minutes, 16 seconds remaining.

After Maxey made a technical foul shot, Yabusele drained a corner three-pointer to give the Sixers a four-point cushion 13 seconds later.

The Warriors would re-tie the score, but a Grimes layup made it a 118-116 game with 1:45 to play. Then Yabusele drained another corner three-pointer to put the Sixers up five on their next possession.

Then with the Sixers clinging to a two-point cushion, Grimes was fouled while attempting a three-pointer with 56.3 seconds left.

However, his weakness on this night was foul shooting. Grimes missed the first from the line and made the second before missing the third as the Sixers led, 122-119. And he made just 2 of 8 foul shots for the game.

But the Sixers were able to go up five after George’s jumper with 44.5 seconds left. Then George added a pair of foul shots with 26.8 seconds left to extend the Sixers to a seven-point margin — and eventual victory.

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While George capped the victory, this night was all about Grimes.

“It was an amazing performance,” Yabusele said. “Since he got here, being really strong and did a lot of great stuff for us. [He is] being really aggressive on offense, and that’s what we really needed that particular time.

“But today, it was just amazing. Every time I passed him the ball, I was telling him, ‘Keep going. Keep pushing it. …’ So it was really important for us to have this tonight. Having this win was big for us.”

Up next

On Monday, the Sixers entertain the Portland Trail Blazers at the Wells Fargo Center. The Blazers (27-33) are riding a four-game winning streak. The teams last met on Dec. 30 in Portland in a 125-103 Sixers victory.