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Sixers-Wizards Game 3 notebook | 12 things to know

Revisiting the trade that brought Matisse Thybulle and a poignant quote from his father shortly afterward.

Matisse Thybulle, making an athletic catch here during the season, has been very active defensively through the first two games of this series against Washington.
Matisse Thybulle, making an athletic catch here during the season, has been very active defensively through the first two games of this series against Washington.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

The things you stumble on waiting for Game 3 (Saturday, 7 p.m., NBCSP, ESPN).

  1. The Sixers have been to the postseason each of the last four years, which sounds pedestrian, but it’s actually the fifth longest current streak. Only Portland (8 years in a row), Boston (7), Milwaukee and Utah (5 each) have longer streaks. Each of those teams has as many championships during this span as the Sixers. Zero.

  2. Joel Embiid has scored at least 20 points in seven consecutive playoff games, which is tied for 10th longest in team history. The longest such streak by a Sixer is held by Allen Iverson (22 games). The five longest in NBA history: Michael Jordan (60 games), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (57), Elgin Baylor (49), Jordan (47) and Kevin Durant (40).

  1. Clubs up 2-0 have won 93.0% of seven-game series since the league went to a 16-team playoff field in 1984. They are 211-16.

  2. Team three-point shooting this series: Sixers 35.8, Wizards 23.8. Team three-point shooting when they were swept in the first round last season: Sixers 26.4, Boston 35.0.

  3. In four games against the Wizards this season, Ben Simmons is averaging 15.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 10.5 assists. The Sixers are 4-0.

  4. In five games against the Sixers, Wizards guard Russell Westbrook is averaging 18.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 12.0 assists. The Wizards are 0-5.

  5. The line on Saturday’s game opened up at Sixers -5.5 and was around 6 late Friday afternoon. There’s been a little more movement in the over/under, which had gotten as high as 230, but was at 227.5.

  6. The Sixers’ 14 blocked shots in Game 2 is tied for 8th-most in a playoff game since 1984. That grinding Pistons team that won the championship in 2004 blocked 19 shots in a 72-67 win over the Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals. That team was good, but hard to watch.

  7. The Sixers were second in the league in blocks this season (447). Only Indiana (460) had more.

  8. A reminder that Sixers GM Elton Brand traded up from No. 24 to No. 20 to nab Matisse Thybulle out of the University of Washington in the 2019 draft. They gave the Celtics the 24th (Ty Jerome) and 33rd (Carsen Edwards) picks. Jerome’s with Oklahoma City and Edwards doesn’t play much.

» READ MORE: Matisse Thybulle undoubtedly is making his late mother proud

  1. Thybulle has only five points in two games, but he has seven blocks and six steals.

  2. “Matisse had two bills that needed to be paid to his mother and I,” his father, Greg, said shortly after his son was drafted. “No. 1 was paid on June 15 [2019] during his commencement ceremony, when he graduated from UW. That was the cake. The icing on the cake was getting to the NBA. His commitment to achieving his dreams paid the second bill.”