Matisse Thybulle Puts in Overtime After Sixers Beat Cavs
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The Philadelphia 76ers battled it out with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night. For the first time this offseason, Sixers fans had an opportunity to witness the projected starting five in action as Joel Embiid, James Harden, and PJ Tucker got the green light to play.
Two nights prior, the Sixers opened their preseason against the Brooklyn Nets. With Harden, Embiid, and Tucker out of the picture, Philadelphia rolled out a starting lineup of Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, Paul Reed, De’Anthony Melton, and Matisse Thybulle.
At the time, Thybulle garnered a lot of attention as his preseason performance was anticipated due to the constant talk about the fourth-year veteran’s offensive growth in the offseason.
After spending under 19 minutes on the court in Philly’s first preseason action, Thybulle drained just one of his four field goal attempts for three points. His first outing of the offseason didn’t necessarily change the narrative of him being a one-dimensional player for the Sixers.
Two nights later, Thybulle came off the bench in the matchup against the Cavs. He didn’t check into the game until the second half, where he collected just under 15 total minutes of playing time.
On the same amount of shot attempts as his first preseason outing, Thybulle drained one shot. He finished the night with two points from the field and added two more from the free-throw line.
Thybulle’s offensive development hasn’t translated to court so far in the preseason. But that hasn’t stopped the young defensive standout from working on improving.
Following Wednesday’s game in South Philly, Thybulle was spotted getting up shots and putting in overtime, according to Sixers.com reporter Lauren Rosen.
The Sixers need Thybulle to remain confident in his ability to shoot the ball. At times last season, it was clear Thybulle lacked confidence and hesitated to make his shot fly.
While he’s drained just one of his six three-point attempts and totaled seven points over two games, Thybulle can’t let his struggles get to his head. With two preseason games left, Thybulle can still change the narrative about his offensive value. Therefore, he continues to put in the work.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
