The Philadelphia 76ers took a solid road victory on Thursday to end 2020 with a 116-92 win over the Orlando Magic. It was a game with an offensive clinic from Philadelphia, including a triple by star Ben Simmons.
Another very nice development was the fact that Matisse Thybulle played well in his first real minutes of the season. The Sixers are a deeper team right now, and Thybulle has failed to put a dent in the rotation of new coach Doc Rivers.
However, with Furkan Korkmaz out, Thybulle gets a chance and he hasn’t wasted it. He had nine points and four rebounds while knocking down two from deep and his usual excellent defense was there too.
“We told him that from the beginning,” Rivers said. Matisse will be a protagonist on this basketball team. I thought his first half was phenomenal on both sides. Second half, I was a little upset because he, I think he passed two 3s and tried to drive and I told him when you open let it fly. He did that in the first half but defensively, in the second half, he was phenomenal on (Cole) Anthony. Anthony is very aggressive and he was phenomenal tonight. “
Thybulle was completely in the rotation of Brett Brown as a rookie, as he earned time thanks to his phenomenal defense. That’s not currently the case under Rivers and he understands that as time goes on, he’ll have to earn his spot. Now is his chance to do that.
“I would say it was pretty similar to what happened last year,” said Thybulle. “I have to fight for a place in the rotation and it was hit up and down or missed, so it’s nothing new. I didn’t enter the season expecting to hit the ground based on what I did last year. I knew I had to earn it and I think I am now. “
As for his offense, everyone understands he’s not at that end of the floor yet. He has to keep working on that aspect of his game. The nine runs were his first runs of the season after becoming winless in the first four games of the season.
“I’m just getting an idea,” he added. “These are my first buckets of the season, so to get an idea, and the more minutes I get, the more comfortable we can get along on the track. I think it will come. I think we’re all growing and trying to figure out where our photos are, what are the better photos, and as you can see I’m going through them right now. ”