Matisse Thybulle admits to losing confidence during Raptors series
CAMDEN, N.J. — Philadelphia 76ers guard Matisse Thybulle had himself an up and down Round 1 series with the Toronto Raptors where he was ineligible to play on the road due to Canada’s vaccination rule. He was only able to play in the three home games in that series and it threw him off a bit.
He had a rough go in Game 5 against the Raptors and it carried over to Miami where he struggled a bit in the first two games of this second-round series. He looked jittery with the basketball and he wasn’t making those signature Thybulle plays that make him a menace on the defensive end of the floor.
In the Game 3 win on Friday, he began looking like himself again and he admitted that he lost some confidence in the Raptors series.
“Feeling a little bit better physically had played a role in that,” Thybulle said at shootaroud on Sunday. “Like I said before, losing the rhythm of the Toronto series was a huge blow to my confidence and just everything on the court. Now with each game, feeling more and more comfortable and like myself.”
Thybulle has missed games before. It happens during the course of an 82-game season, but missing games in the playoffs is a different story and it really got to him mentally.
“Missing games in the playoffs is much harder than missing games in the regular season,” he said. “I had no concept of what that would be like, especially missing games and then going from the starting lineup to coming off the bench. So yeah, it was massive. I definitely didn’t think it was gonna affect me as much as it did, but it definitely had an impact.”
Thybulle and the Sixers will look to earn a 2-2 split with a Game 4 win on Sunday.
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