The Philadelphia 76ers are now officially done with an excruciatingly long regular season where they did not exactly live up to expectations. They ended up as the 6 seed and they now go into the playoffs shorthanded against the Boston Celtics.
Without the help of elite defender Ben Simmons to take on guys like Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown, the Sixers now have to lean on other options. One of them will be rookie Matisse Thybulle who continues to establish himself as one of the better perimeter defenders in the NBA.
The rookie finished up the season averaging 1.4 steals and 0.7 blocks in 19.8 minutes per game. That totals up to 93 steals and 47 blocks. On top of that, he continues to grow and learn the NBA game which makes him an even better defender.
“I feel like he has settled down as far as being able to be bounced around the gym, I think he’s been leveled in his thinking, he’s not as emotional and he’s going to be huge,” said coach Brett Brown. “I can’t understate that, he is going to be huge as a defensive requirement. Especially when you don’t have Ben, with the great wing players the Celtics have in the upcoming series. He’s going to assume a massive role.”
.@sixers @MatisseThybulle finished his rookie season with 93 steals and 47 blocks. He is the eighth rookie in the last 20 years to reach such totals.
Thybulle played 1,287 minutes this season, while none of the other eight played fewer than 2,000.
h/t @StatHead pic.twitter.com/xlnDBHu0CO
— Sixers Stats (@SixersStats) August 15, 2020
“The aspect of his game defensively that has impressed me the most, I think I labeled him a reckless thief at the start of the year,” Brown added. “As the season has unfolded and now as the playoffs are right in front of us, just the crazy swipes and a foul being lifted off the floor with just a subtle up fake and Matisse jumps and some really good player jumps into him and gets three free throws, he hasn’t been doing that. His heart is completely in the right place and then you take the physical gifts and his length and his instincts and if you combine that with intellect of NBA scouting, you got it all.”
Thybulle won’t be alone in defending the elite Celtics wings. There will be others such as Josh Richardson and, of course, Al Horford who has experience with the Celtics. All of them will be needed in this series on defense without Simmons.
Matisse Thybulle defended Kemba Walker the most this season. He spent 10:06 against him across 3 games and held him to 4/12 shooting and 2/8 from deep with 4 blocks. #Sixers
— Ky Carlin (@Ky_Carlin) August 15, 2020
“As I’ve admitted and we’re game planning and we’re missing Ben, that’s where you feel Ben’s absence the most,” Brown finished with. “So, J-Rich, Matisse, Al Horford, our hope is that get Glenn Robinson in that mix and healthy which would give me even more confidence to say what I’m saying right now in that we do have people who can match up. I think that’s always going to be where my mind is headed as you’re feeling out how you’re going to guard them and what you think is most important.”
Game 1 of this anticipated playoff series will be on Monday from inside the bubble in Orlando. [lawrence-related id=36819,36816,36812]