2020 NBA playoffs: Sixers may put Matisse Thybulle into starting lineup for Celtics series
On the eve of their first-round playoff series against the Celtics, Brett Brown said the Sixers are thinking about a starting lineup change.
Rookie Matisse Thybulle could come into the starting five, according to the Sixers’ head coach.
“We’re talking a lot about doing different things,” Brown said Sunday afternoon on a video conference call. “It is being considered.”
With Ben Simmons sidelined by a left knee injury, the Sixers are missing their primary defender this year against All-Star Jayson Tatum. Glenn Robinson III is also out with an oblique muscle strain, an injury Brown acknowledged makes the challenge of guarding Boston’s wings “a bit deeper.”
Thybulle and Josh Richardson were the two main defenders during the regular season on Kemba Walker, the Celtics’ other All-Star, and both fared well. The rookie blocked Walker four times, including a memorable rearview rejection on opening night, and held him to 17 points on 4 for 12 shooting when they matched up head to head.
Though Brown would not discuss whose spot in the lineup Thybulle might take, it seems possible that Al Horford could make way. Since center Daniel Theis is the only traditional frontcourt player the Celtics typically start, Horford might need to defend a wing if he were to remain in the starting lineup. Of course, the viability of the Horford-Joel Embiid pairing has been a question looming over the Sixers for a while. When that duo is on the floor, the team has a minus-0.5 net rating.
“As a backup five, you’re not going to get much better,” Brown said Friday. “As a starting four playing with Joel, I’ve been really happy with the pairing. Although they haven’t played a ton because of Joel’s (injuries), when they have played, I like it. I think Al’s versatility defensively might be the thing that stands out the most in regards to what does he do defensively.”
Despite Brown’s positivity, the reality is that Horford has been effective as a backup center and problematic as a power forward. He’s been better in just about every category when Embiid is off the floor. As an example, he shoots 6.1 percentage points higher from three-point range. The team has unsurprisingly been better in minutes Horford plays without Embiid, too – the Sixers have a plus-4.5 net rating in those situations.
Thybulle, meanwhile, possesses exceptional defensive instincts and closing speed that Brown and the Sixers have wanted him to refine throughout the season. The 23-year-old thinks the possibility that he’ll play major minutes shows the progress he’s made.
For me it’s exciting, because I think that means that I’ve earned a certain level of trust from my teammates and from the coaching staff,” he said. “As everyone hypes up the playoffs, if they trust me enough in the playoffs to do my job and my role – what I’ve been trying to prove for this whole season – I think it’s exciting, because I think my work has paid off. And now it’s really time to showcase everything that we’ve been preparing for.
One area of the game that’s still occasionally appeared perplexing for Thybulle is avoiding foul trouble – he picked up five on Tuesday against Devin Booker and the Suns – but Brown thinks he’s improved at controlling his aggression.
… His heart is completely in the right place,” Brown said Friday. “And then you take the physical gifts in his length, in his instincts, and if you combine that with intellect of NBA sort of scouting, you’ve got it all. I feel like he has really settled down. … I think that he’s been leveled and he’s thinking – he’s not as emotional.
“And he’s going to be huge. I can’t (overstate) that: He’s going to be huge as a defensive requirement, especially since 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.
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