Speaker 1: This podcast is part of the seventy Sixers podcast Network
Speaker 1: Search seventy sixers podcast wherever you get your pods. Welcome
Speaker 1: back into the seventy sixers podcast network. On this episode,
Speaker 1: we recap Matisse Thybles run the Team all Australia, which
Speaker 1: culminated with a bronze medal alongside Lauren Rosen. I'm Matt
Speaker 1: Murphy and Lauren as we jump right in the comment
Speaker 1: about not Bronze but Rose Gold. That was a golden
Speaker 1: comment from Matise. It really took off. Look, Matisse has
Speaker 1: improved in a lot of ways since joining the seventy
Speaker 1: six Ers now just over two years ago, but his
Speaker 1: ability to deliver a sound bite. He came in with
Speaker 1: that talent and it has only grown Since they did
Speaker 1: not win bronze, they in fact one Rose Gold and
Speaker 1: Matt it was just so much fun to watch. It
Speaker 1: was an absolute delight of a run from start to
Speaker 1: finishtion and I'm so glad we got to sort of
Speaker 1: participate in it from afar of course, and you did
Speaker 1: a fantastic job covering it. With the culmination being that
Speaker 1: bronze medal match. It was a one oh seven ninety
Speaker 1: three victory over Luca don Chich and Slovenia on Saturday.
Speaker 1: If you're listening to this on time just a few
Speaker 1: days ago, the not only a bronze medal, but the
Speaker 1: first ever medal for Australia, and Matisse played a big
Speaker 1: role in the entire run, even in that in the
Speaker 1: most recent game he started, it was his first start
Speaker 1: as a Boomer, a well earned start, and cool to
Speaker 1: see the way that his teammates sort of rallied around him, because,
Speaker 1: as he has said throughout this run, he's the new
Speaker 1: guy on this team, and so for them to have
Speaker 1: rallied around him when he just became part of the
Speaker 1: twelve man roster, but then again to become part of
Speaker 1: that starting five, it was just cool to watch the
Speaker 1: way that he progressed throughout the run and then of
Speaker 1: course came up pretty big eleven points five or six
Speaker 1: from the field, five rebounds, four assists, three steals, averaged
Speaker 1: three steals throughout the run, led the entire Olympic field
Speaker 1: in total steals. He had eighteen steals per game, three
Speaker 1: steals per game in just twenty three point two minutes
Speaker 1: per game. And if you followed Matisse in the NBA,
Speaker 1: these stats aren't surprising to you, but honestly not. The
Speaker 1: offensive stats are what stood out to me because that
Speaker 1: was something he was relied upon a lot more in
Speaker 1: this run than he is relied upon with his Sixers teammates.
Speaker 1: Understandably so, but cool to see him really make an
Speaker 1: offensive impact and also be relied upon for the offensive impact.
Speaker 1: It feels with the Sixers that when Matisse has contributed offensively,
Speaker 1: it's been an awesome bonus, but it's not really what
Speaker 1: they're looking for from him. The Boomers needed him to
Speaker 1: do this, and he was able to do it. Seven
Speaker 1: point eight points per game, sixty two point three percent
Speaker 1: from the field, shooting the three, confidently, driving to the basket, confidently,
Speaker 1: penetrating and finding teammates confidently. Really cool to see his
Speaker 1: offensive game grow. The field goal percentage was what I
Speaker 1: was going to point to. I know, we did do
Speaker 1: a preview podcast after some of the exhibition games and
Speaker 1: he shot the ball well. Then he shot the ball
Speaker 1: well in the tournament itself. Just from a game by
Speaker 1: game basis, you were so locked in, how did you
Speaker 1: see him grow over the actual tournament games? Well, to me,
Speaker 1: the growth came on the offensive end. We saw solid
Speaker 1: defense all along that five steel game in the opener,
Speaker 1: surprising maybe to international fans, not surprising to six or
Speaker 1: W And you just said the thing about first and
Speaker 1: steels and steals per game going in it. It's like
Speaker 1: we could have predicted that and it happened, and it's
Speaker 1: just so casual. But he did lead the entire tournament
Speaker 1: in those categories. But like you said, offense on a
Speaker 1: game to game basis was impressive. Yeah, if you're asking
Speaker 1: me where the growth was, I mean, I think credit
Speaker 1: to Matiss though, because he did come into the tournament
Speaker 1: with offensive confidence that we haven't seen a ton of
Speaker 1: so far in his pro career, and then it grew
Speaker 1: from game to game, and I think some of that
Speaker 1: is credit to guys like Patty Mills and Joe Ingles
Speaker 1: who so clearly brought him in under their wing with
Speaker 1: the Olympic experience, with the authority to tell him, hey,
Speaker 1: like we need you to contribute here, and then Matisse
Speaker 1: of course taking the challenge, rising to the occasion and
Speaker 1: I think learning a lot that's going to translate to
Speaker 1: his third year in the NBA and when it comes
Speaker 1: to shooting, just quickly to touch on this, Patty Mills
Speaker 1: was fantastic, and especially with the forty plus point game
Speaker 1: to beat Slovenia. But what an icon. What an icon.
Speaker 1: Him and some other notable players on the international scene
Speaker 1: didn't shoot it necessarily as well as we're used to
Speaker 1: from three. So it's important four players like Matisse who
Speaker 1: have confidence in their shot when they're open in a
Speaker 1: setting like this, and I think Matisse provided that and more,
Speaker 1: which was an eye opener for a lot of fans
Speaker 1: of Australia. He was such a critical part of their
Speaker 1: team and he was seemingly just in the right spots
Speaker 1: at all times. But it was a talented team all around.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Mills, but Thyble was critical to their team
Speaker 1: success and the run that they made. Yeah, you asked
Speaker 1: about sort of progression throughout the Olympic Games, and for me,
Speaker 1: that's where it was. It was offensive contributions and confidence
Speaker 1: in those contributions that I saw growing game by game,
Speaker 1: even if it was just in subtle ways. He really
Speaker 1: wasn't deferring at the end of these Olympics, and if
Speaker 1: he was, it was because someone had a better shot.
Speaker 1: That's something we're big fran Fraschilla people here in Studio
Speaker 1: seventy six. But Fran pointed out that part of Boomer's
Speaker 1: culture is giving up a good shot for a great shot,
Speaker 1: and that's something that Matisse was able to sort of
Speaker 1: unlock As a passer. We've talked about him a little
Speaker 1: bit during his sixers career as like a sneaky good passer,
Speaker 1: but like a couple of cross court passes, some really
Speaker 1: sneaky stuff. I remember a couple beneath the basket. Really
Speaker 1: cool to see him finding his teammates, so not only
Speaker 1: creating for himself, creating for others, growing and developing confidence
Speaker 1: in skills that he hasn't had as many reps performing
Speaker 1: as an NBA player and now might get more opportunities
Speaker 1: to do so. For our local Philadelphia audience, it makes
Speaker 1: me think of Villanova and Jay Wright was on the
Speaker 1: TMUSA staff but good, better best in terms of shot
Speaker 1: selection and the next pass. But how did he end
Speaker 1: up in the starting lineup in that game? Was it
Speaker 1: a Luca don Chich thing? Because I know that was
Speaker 1: a matchup in the bronze medal game. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you have to assume that that that's what it was
Speaker 1: all about. Luca was I mean Patty Mills in FIBA.
Speaker 1: I don't know how we sort of stacked players against
Speaker 1: one another offensively, but if you really do look at
Speaker 1: all the players that were in that game, I think
Speaker 1: Luca was the best offensive player in the game, and
Speaker 1: I think Matisse was the best defensive player in the game.
Speaker 1: So to make sure that they were out there when
Speaker 1: the game started, so they could set the tone the
Speaker 1: way that they did in that game against the USA
Speaker 1: but weren't quite able to maintain, I think was important.
Speaker 1: And I'm not a basketball coach, but I do think
Speaker 1: that the general message was we need Matisse to be
Speaker 1: out there when Luca's out there for as long as possible.
Speaker 1: And he certainly did a good job in those minutes.
Speaker 1: And lucas another guy that I'm talking about that maybe
Speaker 1: didn't shoot it as well from three as might have
Speaker 1: been expected, because he attempted a lot of contested shots
Speaker 1: throughout the entirety of all of Slovenia's games and in
Speaker 1: the last game as well. Let's talk well before we
Speaker 1: get there. One sequence that I thought was so Matisse
Speaker 1: was at the end of the game against Slovenia, he
Speaker 1: had did they credit him with a block? He had
Speaker 1: in your final stat line tweet. It ended with three steals,
Speaker 1: but I did have one block. He did have one block,
Speaker 1: but I wasn't sure if they were going to credit
Speaker 1: him for it, and I released the tweet before there
Speaker 1: was clarity. But yeah, it looked like he had the strip,
Speaker 1: almost came up with the steel, didn't quite and then
Speaker 1: immediate and then the putback dunk. So he displays through
Speaker 1: the end of the game, through the final buzzer, and
Speaker 1: it was a very important final buzzer for Australia, for him,
Speaker 1: for all the individual players. But he played all the
Speaker 1: way through and he had a play on the defensive
Speaker 1: end in it, and an emphatic they called it an
Speaker 1: exclamation point on the broadcast with the put back dunk.
Speaker 1: So that was just a cool way to end it
Speaker 1: for him. And I mean, just again for confidence, Like
Speaker 1: look at the way that the sixer season ended. It
Speaker 1: was tough on everybody. I think they all had a
Speaker 1: really hard time swallowing that game. Seven loss motifs included
Speaker 1: to see him now finish a playoff like experience, coming
Speaker 1: up so big and really doing his job on both ends.
Speaker 1: It's got to be helpful for your confidence when your
Speaker 1: NBA season ended the way that it did. I love
Speaker 1: that he played in this tournament. I love that he
Speaker 1: had the opportunity to grow in this tournament. And I
Speaker 1: think we're going to see some boomer Matisse in his
Speaker 1: third season. That's just over a month away. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: a lie. Two months away. Sorry. I want to finish
Speaker 1: up in a few minutes with just the Boomer culture
Speaker 1: and community that you became a part of over the
Speaker 1: last few weeks. But before we go there, you mentioned
Speaker 1: the Sixers and Joel Embiid sent out a tweet saying
Speaker 1: elite in all caps, and some of his other Matis's
Speaker 1: other Sixers teammates were showing love. So it was cool
Speaker 1: to see that with just the thought in mind that
Speaker 1: Sixers basketball is just around the corner, and like we've
Speaker 1: been talking about, this is going to do nothing but
Speaker 1: help Matisse in the NBA season. So what did you
Speaker 1: make of the MBA connections coming out about his international play. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, you love to see Joel showing love. Joel
Speaker 1: doesn't tweet that frequently, so when he does, you know
Speaker 1: he's passionate about something. And I think it's worth noting
Speaker 1: that Joel has been a big advocate of Matisse in
Speaker 1: his game since he was a rookie. Even just listening
Speaker 1: to media bites over these past couple of years, Joel
Speaker 1: does make it a point to talk about how impressive
Speaker 1: he finds Matisse, to name Matis as a future All
Speaker 1: NBA Defensive player, which he was this season, and when
Speaker 1: Matisse made that All Defensive team, he said that guys
Speaker 1: like Joel and Ben have been telling him since he
Speaker 1: got here that he was going to be an All
Speaker 1: defensive player. So cool to know that that's happening in
Speaker 1: private and now it's also happening publicly. When Joel Embiide
Speaker 1: gives you gives you a pat on the back, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a hardy one and it was cool to
Speaker 1: see him do that publicly. He's called him at times
Speaker 1: a Defensive Player of the Year candidate as well, in
Speaker 1: addition to All Defense, which we saw him make the
Speaker 1: second team. Of course, do you want to talk about
Speaker 1: the community for minutes, because let's give them a shout
Speaker 1: out and obviously we've we've given you shout outs just
Speaker 1: it was a it is a family, it seems Australian
Speaker 1: Boomers basketball. What do you want to say about how
Speaker 1: they welcomed you during the run. Yeah, thank you for
Speaker 1: giving me that little lob because I would like to
Speaker 1: complete it. It has been nothing but a pleasure to
Speaker 1: engage with Australian basketball fans. And it's not that I
Speaker 1: didn't know that they existed, It's that I didn't know
Speaker 1: they would be as passionate and supportive of Matise. Like,
Speaker 1: first of all, they're Matisse fans, they're not Lauren fans.
Speaker 1: But it was interesting to see this group of people
Speaker 1: sort of gravitate to me because I was able to
Speaker 1: add some extra color to what he's been up to
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years before maybe he was
Speaker 1: on the Australian basketball culture radar the way that he
Speaker 1: certainly is now, and then sort of on a human level,
Speaker 1: these Australian basketball fans are so nice. I have gotten
Speaker 1: so many messages, DMS, mentions whatever from folks in Australia
Speaker 1: that have enjoyed this run, that have welcomed me in,
Speaker 1: that have invited me out to Australia, given me food
Speaker 1: and coffee recommendations for when I go. So, if any
Speaker 1: of you guys are listening, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: making me feel that welcome. I did not intend to
Speaker 1: make some new virtual friends, but I feel as though
Speaker 1: I have, and Australia has certainly shot to the top
Speaker 1: of my list of places to visit. Hopefully we can
Speaker 1: continue covering some Ausi international basketball as Sixers people as
Speaker 1: well as the crossover remains relevant. But yeah, thank you
Speaker 1: to everybody that's been so kind to me. It's actually
Speaker 1: been like a little bit touching and a little bit moving,
Speaker 1: and I'm kind of sad that the run is over
Speaker 1: because of how much fun I had, being obviously a
Speaker 1: very peripheral small part of it. You said they were
Speaker 1: curious about sixers Matise a little bit, so like, what
Speaker 1: do you if you what did you tell them or
Speaker 1: what would you tell them about sixers Matise when they
Speaker 1: were inquiring about what he's like, because if it was
Speaker 1: their first taste of him playing basketball or seeing him regularly,
Speaker 1: what do you tell them about what you have seen
Speaker 1: over the years. Well, I think it's interesting. I think
Speaker 1: you and I started this conversation talking about the fact
Speaker 1: that if I had told you that Matisse was going
Speaker 1: to lead the Olympics and steals and steals per game
Speaker 1: in not so many minutes per game, like, that's not
Speaker 1: surprising because that's what he's been doing in the NBA.
Speaker 1: But if you haven't watched matise in the NBA, you're
Speaker 1: surprised that this dude is able to do what he
Speaker 1: does and does it with a smile and does it
Speaker 1: with passion. And I think a lot of people didn't
Speaker 1: even know about his dual citizenship, so I don't think
Speaker 1: that he was really on the radar. So for me,
Speaker 1: it wasn't about sharing any like inside scoop or anything
Speaker 1: like that. It was more about just saying like, look,
Speaker 1: he's been doing this, like this is actually, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is what this guy does. This is how he makes
Speaker 1: his money, this is how he's going to continue to
Speaker 1: do it. And I think it's cool for him also
Speaker 1: to now have developed a much stronger international fan base
Speaker 1: and deepen the connections that he's always had but not
Speaker 1: everybody was aware of to Australia, and the fact that
Speaker 1: he just quickly started doing all of these things that
Speaker 1: he does in the NBA, like he would come on
Speaker 1: the court and immediately intercept a pass, so there was
Speaker 1: no seemingly no learning curve, or at least like if
Speaker 1: the fans were like all right, let's see what this
Speaker 1: guy is all about. He just got on the court
Speaker 1: and started doing those things right from the jump, which
Speaker 1: is not always easy to do again when you join
Speaker 1: any team for a short period of time with a
Speaker 1: short lead up, but a team that's so established, when
Speaker 1: they have veterans like Angles and Patty Mills that have
Speaker 1: been together for many years, many Olympics, he just came
Speaker 1: in and he couldn't have acclimated himself any better. I
Speaker 1: don't think, I mean, I would zoom out even farther
Speaker 1: than international basketball. Anytime you start a new job or
Speaker 1: get a new gig, like there's a learning curve, and
Speaker 1: I agree with you, he didn't really seem to have one.
Speaker 1: If he did, he hit it really really well. And
Speaker 1: I think for a fan base that has wanted this
Speaker 1: medal for so long and has been so close over
Speaker 1: and over and over again, to get a piece like Matisse,
Speaker 1: who has such a unique skill set, such an impactful
Speaker 1: skill set, at exactly the right time, must have felt
Speaker 1: really good for those fans. Must have felt really good
Speaker 1: for Matisse because he's able to look back at this
Speaker 1: run and know that he made a really interesting and
Speaker 1: really important impact. So it all sort of came together
Speaker 1: in a really great way for this program, for our
Speaker 1: guy and for these fans. So it was just so
Speaker 1: much fun to cover. It was so light and like
Speaker 1: wholesome and enjoyable, and it was just awesome. I've really
Speaker 1: enjoyed these last few weeks of coverage, despite the obscure hours.
Speaker 1: My sleep schedule is going to thank me for going
Speaker 1: back to covering the Sixers. Now, I will say Matisse
Speaker 1: Thybal was an Olympic X factor and I as we
Speaker 1: finish up, I couldn't get enough. On the social media
Speaker 1: side of things. Even for the team account, it was
Speaker 1: who's the MVP of the game or what emoji? Pick
Speaker 1: your emoji for this player, and the comments are Thibal, Thible,
Speaker 1: Thieble or whatever emoji represents Thible. Even if he's not
Speaker 1: an option, it seemed like people on Instagram were picking
Speaker 1: him as their player the game, or ultimately the X
Speaker 1: factor in a lot of their games. And that, of
Speaker 1: course is credit not just to the way that Matisse plays,
Speaker 1: but the way that he carries himself, the way that
Speaker 1: he speaks, the pride that he clearly had for being
Speaker 1: a part of this program. So happy for him, Happy
Speaker 1: for the team, happy for the fan base, Thible, the
Speaker 1: Australian Boomers, bronze medalists in Tokyo, the Rose Gold medalists, Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, Rose Gold medalists in Tokyo, the first medal
Speaker 1: of any kind for the Boomers. And as we put
Speaker 1: a bow on this, what else do we have on
Speaker 1: the seventy six Ers podcast network? You might ask, what
Speaker 1: else can you listen to now that that event is over? Well,
Speaker 1: summer league, So there's a few different ways people can
Speaker 1: get our summer league content, Lauren. We have our Summer
Speaker 1: Sixers interviews. You've recently spoken with Isaiah Joe of the Sixers.
Speaker 1: I've spoken with Brian Adams, who's a Sixers assistant coach
Speaker 1: coaching the summer league team out in Vegas. So that's
Speaker 1: available on this here feed. And then if you're not
Speaker 1: already following our other feed, search seventy Sixers Scoop and
Speaker 1: over on the feed for the Scoop will have daily
Speaker 1: five minute podcasts about the Sixers and the Sixers Summer
Speaker 1: League previews recaps all of that, so more basketball to
Speaker 1: talk about. It should be fun to parlay that into
Speaker 1: some summer league Summer Sixers It never ends, really really
Speaker 1: never ends, and we will be here for it all.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to Lauren Rosen, I am Matt Murphy, and
Speaker 1: thank you for listening.