Doc Rivers praises Matisse Thybulle after Sixers knock off Raptors
The Philadelphia 76ers were able to knock off the Toronto Raptors 112-90 on the road on Friday despite not having Joel Embiid out on the floor mainly due to Tyrese Maxey. The third-year guard did drop a career-high 44 points in the win, after all.
However, Matisse Thybulle played well off the bench as he got his first extensive playing time of the season. He played just under 22 minutes in this one and he had six points, knocking down two triples after hesitating on his first triple where he looked a bit confused, and he had a steal and two blocks. This comes after he played a grand total of five minutes in the first five games combined.
After the win, coach Doc Rivers explained the decision to play Thybulle and he praised him for his effort.
“We talked to Matisse yesterday (Thursday) about it,” Rivers told reporters. “Again, at the start of the season, we thought we liked the rotation we’re going to have, and honestly, it wasn’t working for us and so we decided as a staff, we need to add a defensive guy to our group. Really, two defensive guys we’re going to add. We actually didn’t want other guys and so it worked out for us.”
Rivers then addressed Thybulle’s shooting as he took five triples on Friday making the two. This was after he overcame the initial confusion and it allowed him to flourish and get the job done.
“The key for him is there’s gonna be teams that try to game plan him and not guard him,” Rivers continued. “He’s worked on his shot, and it just got to keep shooting it, and really, I was really proud of them because that first play where you get stuck with the ball. Usually, you don’t come back and shoot the next one, but we told him ‘You have to shoot those’.”
Rivers compared what the Raptors were doing to Thybulle to what the Sixers were doing with Scottie Barnes. They left the second-year forward open and they were content with letting him shoot and he kept shooting. That is what Thybulle has to do.
“Just like we left Barnes open tonight (Friday),” Rivers finished. “He kept shooting them and making them so it’s part of the process.”
The Sixers will now head to Chicago take on the Bulls and continue the road trip.
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Multiple Sixers react to Tyrese Maxey going off to lead Sixers to win
