The Philadelphia 76ers welcomed back one of their defensive stars on Saturday when Matisse Thybulle returned from the league’s health and safety protocol for the team’s road matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers.
While it came in a 118-111 loss, Thybulle made strides in his return. He ended up playing 21:07 and he had nine points, a steal, and a block on Blazers star Damian Lillard. That is just about a typical night for one of the game’s elite defenders.
The important part is, after missing seven games, Thybulle was able to get back into things. His endurance looked fine which is always the biggest question when a player returns from COVID-19 and that pleased coach Doc Rivers.
“He said his wind was good,” said Rivers. “He was just fumbling, but overall, I thought defensively he was good, not great. Tonight was a burn game, you know what I mean? Like you burned his minutes and see what you can get out of them. I think tomorrow and next game against Sac (Sacramento), he’ll be fine.”
Thybulle entered the protocol on Nov. 5. From that point, he endured a lot of waiting around his apartment and not doing much. His return came against elite scorers Lillard and C.J. McCollum, and he did a solid job in that respect.
“The pace of this and the pace of what was taking place at my apartment are two different worlds so it’s been a little bit of a whirlwind, but it’s been good,” laughed Thybulle. “I was actually pretty surprised at how quickly I could like slide back into how things were.”
Lillard had 39 points and McCollum had 18. That is just what those guys do on a regular basis, but Thybulle being able to slide back in and go after those guys is encouraging. The key now is to continue to get his wind back and get back to where he was before.
“It came back quickly,” Thybulle added. “For having two weeks without playing basketball, I felt pretty good to get out there and play decent minutes and to have the matchups I have was a tough assignment, but yeah.”
The Sixers head to Sacramento to take on the Kings for the fifth game of their six-game road trip on Monday.
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