Minnesota TimberWolves

[Bklyn]

Wilbon summed it up when talking about the viewers. I tune in because Rubio is playing. I haven't done that with a Wolves game in years. I barely watched them even if they were playing the Lakers.

[AlabamAlum]

Deservedly or not, somewhere Catalan is smiling.

[Bklyn]

Making an offensive slanted-eye-pull face...

[Simitar]

Timberwolves rookie Ricky Rubio making his presence felt
By J. Michael Falgoust, USA TODAY

MINNEAPOLIS – Body language does all the talking for Minnesota Timberwolves rookie point guard Ricky Rubio, who would rather be elsewhere, or at least talking about someone else.

Rubio has a genuine softness about him that's endearing to nearly everyone he encounters. The 21-year-old Spaniard lights up when talking about one of his favorite movies, Disney's The Lion King. But the boyish smiles hide a deep-seated bashfulness.

A 6-4 wizard of no-look passes, Rubio has an appearance and demeanor that have drawn comparisons to late NBA legend Pete Maravich.

Although he rejects the comparison — "He was a scorer; I'm not a scorer," he says — Rubio exudes old-school charm that's as honest as his effort.

"I'm kind of shy. I prefer to know people before being a friend of them," says Rubio, who was drafted fifth overall in 2009 but chose to play in Spain for the past two seasons. "I have my own friends since I was 5 or 6 years old, and I keep them. … I'm really uncomfortable with people I don't know very well."

Which presents a problem for basketball fans, who want to know all about him.

Rubio, new coach Rick Adelman, 2011 first-round draft pick Derrick Williams and free agent guard J.J. Barea, from the defending champion Dallas Mavericks, have given hope to a Timberwolves team that had won 32 games over the past two seasons. The franchise has struggled through six consecutive losing seasons and hasn't qualified for the playoffs since 2003-04.

Rubio is averaging 10.8 points, but it's his passing (8.3 assists a game) and energy that excite the fans and transmit through the TV screen.

The Timberwolves (5-8), with sellouts in three of seven home games, are 14th in attendance (averaging 17,282) entering today's game against the visiting Detroit Pistons. Minnesota ranked 24th in average attendance last season (15,242).

In 82 home games the last two seasons, Minnesota sold out twice. And with 8,000 season tickets sold this season, the franchise has its largest base since 2005-06, before Kevin Garnett left for the Boston Celtics. Chants of "Ole!Ole! Ole!" serenade Rubio as he lobs passes to teammates at the rim.

Fans are becoming re-energized because the Timberwolves, despite a losing record, are competitive in most games. They lost by four to the Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City Thunder and by two to the Miami Heat.

That's not good enough for Rubio, who waves off any adjustment period and expects no less than to make the playoffs.

"He's different than a lot of rookies," Adelman says. "With all that hype, the stuff he goes through, it doesn't affect him. He's even keel.

"One thing I really like about him is he's not afraid to take up the challenge. There's a lot of good players in our league. He has to face them every day, and he accepts the challenge."

Rubio turned pro at 15 with Joventut Badalona in Spain's top league, succeeding against grown men in Europe's toughest showcase. He made Spain's 2008 Olympic team and spent the last two years playing for powerhouse Barcelona, winning the Euroleague championship there in 2010.

Masked by Rubio's modesty is a winning attitude that Minnesota has lacked since Garnett's departure in the 2007 offseason.

"If you don't talk to him, he won't talk to you (off the court). He won't start the conversation," Barea says of his rookie teammate. "But he's vocal in the game, though. He's going to get more vocal. To be a rookie, he talks a lot."

Rubio came off the bench for the first 10 games, but he's started the past three, shifting nine-year veteran Luke Ridnour to shooting guard.

"I have to control more of the game. That's what a point guard has to do. We lost a lot of games in the last quarter, and that can't happen," Rubio says. "We had a chance, but we don't have to be happy because we had a chance. We have to be happy because we won the game. And we didn't.

"That's not enough."

Competitiveness of a veteran

David Kahn, the Timberwolves' president of basketball operations, noticed Rubio's competitive nature early on when scouting the then-18-year-old in Madrid in February 2009.

"The thing that most impressed me about him was his competitiveness and how much it hurt that night for him to lose," Kahn says. "His team, Badalona, was not in Real Madrid's class, but … when Coach took him out a couple of times, that's when they lost their leads.

"When he was pulled from the game with about a minute to go, he went to the end of the bench," Kahn continues. "They had these rotational signage boards at the end of the baseline, and he kicked it, and he put a towel over his head. He was visibly upset they lost. I couldn't take my eyes off him because of the way he ran his team.

"You're trying to figure out the guys who are going to separate themselves, and oftentimes, it comes down to the intangibles. Ricky has them."

Rubio was a game-changer in Monday's 99-86 win against the Sacramento Kings. He expanded a two-point lead in the fourth quarter by penetrating the defense to create openings and passing to open teammates. He finished with nine points, eight rebounds, eight assists and two steals.

Power forward Kevin Love had 33 points and 11 rebounds, becoming the first since Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon in 1992-93 to open a season with 13 consecutive double-doubles.

"The penetration opens opportunities for him," Kings coach Keith Smart says of Rubio's effect on Love. "Once you open (Love) up to the glass, he's going to make plays there. … You force a defense to help, and then you make the easy plays to guys making wide-open shots."

Love, a first-time All-Star last season, is averaging a career-high 25.6 points and 14.3 rebounds a game. He could sign a contract extension with the team by Jan. 25 or opt for restricted free agency at the end of this season. The Timberwolves hope Rubio's play will keep Love on board.

"He has eyes in the back of his head. He's going to find you no matter where you are. It's contagious with the whole team," Love says. "We're moving the ball now, making the extra pass. Guys are loving playing together. Nobody cares who scores on this team. He makes scoring passes."

At home in Minneapolis

Even Kahn is shocked by how quickly Rubio has taken to the NBA style of play.

He struggled in 11 games of the European championships over the summer. He averaged 1.5 points and 2.1 assists for Spain.

"I was secretly optimistic without trying to put expectations on him," Kahn said. "He seems to have skipped over the period of adjustment that almost every rookie has, especially, in his case, with the cultural adjustment, as well. But he's always done things at an advanced stage."

Although soccer is king in Spain, basketball rules in Rubio's hometown of Badalona, a suburb of Barcelona.

"In Badalona, you breathe basketball. It's different because in Spain, everybody talks about soccer. In that city, everybody talks about basketball," said Rubio, who was never a soccer fan. "I prefer a small town where everybody knows everybody. I like Minneapolis because it's not a small city or a (big) city. I call it a big town because it's not like (Los Angeles) or New York. I prefer this style a lot."

Minneapolis is more suitable for Rubio's personality and development as a young player. Pau Gasol, an All-Star power forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, is from the Barcelona area, too. Gasol, who spent his first 6½ NBA seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, often shares his professional advice with Rubio.

"They don't attack you (in Minneapolis) like they do in L.A., for example, with Pau Gasol. It's easier starting here," Rubio said. "You don't feel the pressure, but you know that you have to win here, too, and give 100%."

Family members visited Rubio for Christmas, and they might move here for next season. His girlfriend arrived last weekend to visit him, too.

Questions about Rubio's delayed NBA start left the Timberwolves vulnerable to criticism of drafting him. Kahn made multiple visits to court him. Rubio credits him for his warmth.

"I gave (my) word that I'm going to come in two years. When you say it's (your) word, it's your word," Rubio said. "You have to do it. No matter what happens or how comfortable I was in Barcelona. … I decided to make the big step. And I know I made the right choice."

[Bklyn]

I really like that kid. You guys have a winner, Sim.

[Simitar]

¡olé!
For two years Ricky Rubio was an NBA draft pick stewing in his native Spain. Now he is spreading joy in Minnesota with his artful passes and spirited play

After the nine-hour flight from Barcelona to Minneapolis, the two-hour dinner with corporate sponsors and season-ticket holders at Sopranos in St. Louis Park, and the subsequent Q&A, Ricky Rubio sank into the backseat of a limo van and headed to the W Hotel downtown. His first day in his new town was almost over, and jet lag was setting in, but Rubio felt restless. He had a pickup game and a press conference scheduled for the next morning at Target Center, where he had been waiting to play since the summer of 2009. He could not wait any longer. Rubio asked the driver to take him to the gym.

He entered through a side door at 9:30 p.m., wearing a blazer and a button-down with jeans and dress shoes, carrying nothing but his Nikes. An equipment manager, summoned for after-hours duty, greeted him with practice gear. Rubio slipped on the jersey, the shorts, the socks with the NBA logo. His wide eyes fixed on that logo, before looking up at Jarinn Akana, who doubles as an agent and personal coach. "After all the talk," Rubio said, "I'm finally here."

As Rubio went through shooting, ballhandling and pick-and-roll drills for the next 80 minutes, Akana noticed T-Wolves executives trickle into the training facility and ring the court. Rubio should never be evaluated on an individual workout. He is neither a marksman nor a speedster, and he does not stand out in a layup line, much less a dunk contest. His gift—the sublime passes he delivers with a flutter of the wrist, between a defender's arms and sometimes legs, all while staring down a fan in the 12th row—requires the participation of teammates to appreciate. But on the night of June 20 the execs weren't trying to figure out if Rubio would be a star in the NBA. They were just trying to confirm that he was real.

"For a long time he has been a mystery to everybody here," says Minnesota power forward Kevin Love. "He was like a fairy tale." Rubio can seem the creation of a Spanish caricaturist, a 21-year-old point guard with an impossibly wispy build and musical name and full head of thick brown hair, whose supernatural vision allows him to see three steps into the future. Like any mythical figure, some believed in him, but most did not. Several evaluators dismissed him as a 6'4", 180-pound marketing stunt who could produce little more than publicity. Drafted in 2009, and sequestered in Spain for the past two years, Rubio has arrived with all the flair of his behind-the-back passes. Three weeks into his NBA career he has risen from curiosity to folk hero, whipping no-look fastballs and 30-foot lobs while the Target Center crowd chants "Olé!" in its Minnesota accents. Rubio cannot bear the thought of a basic post feed, for fear he will lose his audience's attention. "With Ricky, you better keep your eye on the ball," says T-Wolves small forward Wesley Johnson, "or you'll get hit in the head."

Rubio is as real as a Spalding in the nose: At week's end he was averaging 11 points, 8.3 assists and enough highlights to stack up with Blake Griffin. On Jan. 1 against Dallas, Rubio drove along the left baseline and spotted power forward Anthony Tolliver, setting up in the right corner. Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki slid over and blocked Rubio's path underneath the basket. Without breaking stride, Rubio threaded the ball through Nowitzki's legs, and Tolliver had to suppress a laugh as he sank a clinching three-pointer. Never mind that Minnesota is 4--8 and that Rubio just started his first game last Friday; he ranks third among Western Conference guards in All-Star votes, trailing only Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul.

So goes the latest chapter of the fairy tale that began when Rubio was 14, already a pro in Spain's famed ACB League, completing homework while teammates twice his age took naps. "You'd see other point guards thinking, Here's this kid I'm going to abuse," says Elmer Bennett, a former teammate. "That was never the case." Rubio was a product of the American playgrounds as well as the European academies, studying Jason Kidd and Lamar Odom, wearing shorts down to his shins and ricky on the back of his jerseys. When he led Spain to the under-16 world championship by scoring 51 points with 24 rebounds and 12 assists in the final, La Pistola was born, Spain's answer to Pete Maravich.

At 17, Rubio started for Spain against the U.S. in the 2008 Olympic final, splitting a double team from LeBron James and Kidd, and causing Paul to mutter, "I'm trying to steal that ball from him, but I can't." Before the '09 draft Rubio met with the Kings and amused them when he brought along his mother, Tona. The Timberwolves picked him fifth, rejecting Dwight Howard--sized trade proposals, yet Rubio opted for more time in El Masnou, the beach town outside of Barcelona where he was raised. He lived in a house two doors from his grandmother, with his vast collection of teddy bears. The mystery grew.

"Nobody in America has seen me except on YouTube," says Rubio, picking at chicken fingers in a Minneapolis sports bar. It is the middle of training camp and Rubio is awaiting keys to his new townhouse, five minutes from Target Center, with room for a few of his teddy bears and a kitchen where he will cook Spanish omelets. This will be the first time he lives more than two miles from his parents.

When Rubio heard the Timberwolves were hiring Rick Adelman as their head coach, he Googled Adelman to learn his offense. In camp he spent nights jotting plays in a notebook and highlighting what he thought were the best options. He barked at teammates who didn't make proper cuts in practice and cussed himself for missed shots. He is far from the stereotypical soft Euro. Then again, when he needed a break, he popped in a DVD of The Lion King.

Minnesota lost 132 games over the past two seasons, more than any team in the NBA, and sometimes even the players turned to Rubio and all those viral videos for consolation. He provided hope, if not for a winning record, then at least for an entertaining brand of basketball. Last month the Timberwolves announced that they had sold the most full season-ticket packages since the Kevin Garnett era, proof that the bounce pass can still push product.

On opening night against the Thunder, Rubio came off a high screen by Love at the top of the key and brought two defenders with him as he dribbled right. Rubio peeked back at Love, his primary option, popping out to the three-point line. But Rubio rarely elects the obvious. He uses it to bait the hook. Elevating on the run, he fired a pass across the key, directly at Oklahoma City forward Nick Collison. Perched in the middle of the paint, Collison was eyeing Love, and before he could adjust, the ball whistled between his right arm and his right ear. Timberwolves rookie Derrick Williams, stationed behind Collison on the baseline, simply had to raise his hands.

The play was bold and instinctive, everything Minnesota had been expecting, and Rubio had been missing.

The Joventut Badalona basketball team is like the Oakland A's of the ACB League, excellent at identifying and grooming talent but financially ill-equipped to keep it. Rubio joined the club's developmental program when he was 12. He flourished in its freewheeling offense, throwing his underhand shovel passes and off-the-backboard lobs. For the 2008--09 season Joventut paid him $97,000 under a contract that included a disproportionate $6.6 million buyout. Joventut officials realized Rubio would leave for an organization with more money and greater exposure, and they ensured that they'd cash in when he did.

According to an NBA executive, Rubio's camp sent signals before the 2009 draft that he wanted to play in a big market with a temperate climate. "Muy frío," Tona lamented when Minnesota made its selection. Translation: Very cold. Under NBA rules the Timberwolves could contribute only $500,000 to Rubio's buyout, and Minnesota general manager David Kahn was content to let Rubio honor the remaining two years of his contract with Joventut. But Rubio and Joventut clashed over the amount of the buyout and Rubio filed a lawsuit against the club. He was criticized publicly for the first time. His turn as a teen idol was in jeopardy. "We became a safety valve for him," says Kahn. "[At that point] he didn't really have anywhere else to go."

Kahn made three trips to Spain in the summer of 2009, convincing Rubio that Minneapolis is no small town. It has 19 Fortune 500 companies, Kahn explained, whose endorsements could help toward the buyout. Rubio seemed sold, and on Kahn's third trip in late August he finalized terms with Joventut president Jordi Villacampa in Villacampa's backyard. Then, 48 hours later, Rubio signed a six-year contract with FC Barcelona, with an option to leave for the NBA after two.

Rubio says he joined Barcelona solely because it could pay the buyout, but according to those close to him he also wondered whether he could meet the NBA's outrageous expectations. "Everything was going too fast, too soon," says the Lakers' Barcelona-born power forward, Pau Gasol, a mentor to Rubio and former teammate on the Spanish national team. "He wasn't ready. He needed to establish himself as a great point guard and not just a really good young player."

"It was a letdown," says Love. "It felt like a wasted pick." Kahn told Love what Rubio told him, that he would come to Minnesota in 2011. "I'll believe it when I see it," Love replied.

If Joventut is the A's, Barcelona is the Yankees, more successful but also more staid. The club runs a highly structured offense, with dozens of set plays, and the point guard's job is to initiate, not improvise. "Hit the guy on the elbow, run to the corner and stand there," says a Western Conference executive, describing Rubio's role. He couldn't have found a worse fit at Pete Carril's Princeton. In two years with Barcelona, Rubio averaged 6.0 points on 35.6% shooting and even his assist totals waned. The mix tapes got much shorter.

"When you're 15 and have a bad game, everybody tells you that it's normal," says Rubio. "When you're 20, there is more pressure, so you think about your mistakes. That's how you play nervous. Then everything gets bigger, bigger, bigger, and you are in fear." When Rubio is at ease, he sees a shadow in the corner of his eye, and flings the ball practically on faith. With Barcelona he paused to make out the shadow, and defenders closed to bat the ball away. "He was a totally different guy," says Walt Szczerbiak, the former ACB ambassador to the U.S. "He wasn't the flamboyant Ricky Rubio. He lost his alegría, his joy."

Rubio searched his old Joventut tapes to recover it. He spent extra time in the gym, but that only made him another step slower. He watched the Timberwolves, who were losing almost every night, and he actually ached to join them. Gasol worried about him. Scouts forgot about him. The T-Wolves, however, continued their long-distance courtship. Owner Glen Taylor wrote Rubio a letter comparing him with Garnett. Kahn sent text messages after Rubio's good games. Tony Ronzone, then an assistant G.M., took six trips overseas in a year, chatting with Rubio about restaurants and beaches more than basketball. When Rubio celebrated his 20th birthday in October, he sent Kahn a text that read: "I want to spend next year's with you."

Kahn flew to Spain last May, when Rubio was nursing a sore foot and coming off the bench for Barcelona. "He told me they still wanted me and they could help me get out of this [funk]," Rubio says. "They could give me the freedom back. I think I was more excited than they were." Rubio did not care about the weather or the market size. He had a more fundamental concern. "I'm not sure I should start next season," he told Kahn. "People expect me to be a savior." In New York or Los Angeles, the places Rubio thought he wanted to be, his fears might have been justified. But he was headed to Minnesota, with its 66 losses a season and its average point guards. He was the rare European who wouldn't find more stress in the NBA. If anything, he would find relief.

Since Rubio was 17, he played for the Spanish national team every summer, went to his club's training camp in August and was in the playoffs through June. He took off three weeks each summer. When the Euroleague championships ended last season, Rubio overhauled his routine. He went bowling with friends in Barcelona. He played cards. He lingered at cafés. "Sometimes I went to the gym," Rubio says, "and sometimes I didn't." He flew to Los Angeles for six weeks and sat in the stands for the USC-Stanford football game. He didn't care about the touchdowns, just as he doesn't care about the goals in soccer. "I try to see all the details that come before," he says.

Rubio rented an apartment in Woodland Hills and trained at 360 Health Club in Reseda, where Garnett, Chauncey Billups and a legion of NBA players gather for pickup games. The style is rugged, and only Garnett seems to determine what constitutes a foul. The first time Rubio walked through the door, he froze for a moment. "Maybe it's not a great idea to be here," he told himself. "What are they going to say to me? 'You don't play in the NBA yet. You don't belong.'"

Rubio typically matched up against Billups, and while he was pushed around and leaned on, he was ultimately accepted. "He held his own," Billups says. "He never backed down." Even Garnett, occasionally frosty to European players, pulled Rubio aside and offered real-estate advice in Minneapolis. The games were usually in the morning, and in the afternoon Rubio would return to the gym and shoot. This is standard American workout fare, but new to Rubio, who has spent most of his life dribbling, passing and neglecting his stroke. "He got comfortable being a young celebrity point guard," says an Eastern Conference executive. "He didn't improve his shot."

As Adelman sifted through Barcelona tapes he rarely saw Rubio let fly, and never with the same form twice. But plenty of point guards, from Kidd to Derrick Rose, have developed jumpers in the NBA. Vision is harder to teach. Adelman was familiar with Rubio, going back to the 2009 draft, when he was coaching the Rockets and they offered Minnesota any two players besides Yao Ming for Rubio's draft rights. Adelman, who was let go by Houston following last season, spent much of the summer mulling the T-Wolves' job before pulling out of contention in July, claiming he wanted to take a year off. He agreed, though, to help Kahn pick the right coach. About a month later Adelman called Kahn from Hawaii, to nominate himself.

Adelman is the NBA's point guard whisperer and has been since 1985, when he was an assistant for the Blazers and they drafted a small forward from Wisconsin-Stevens Point named Terry Porter. Porter was 6'3" and couldn't shoot well, so he had to play point guard. Adelman studied film with him, talked him through situations after practice and kept a running dialogue with him during games. Porter became a two-time All Star. Now he is a Minnesota assistant, in charge of Rubio.

Porter read the scouting reports and prepared for a legend who is also a novice, forcing flashy passes, gambling for steals and succumbing to defenses that sag off him. But through the first 12 games Rubio shot 45.5% from three-point range, second among rookies. He smothered opposing ball handlers with arms that look as long as Kevin Durant's. And in a 21-point win over the Wizards on Jan. 8, he piled up 14 assists, including an alley-oop to Williams that traveled nearly half the court. "Everything he does is fancy," says Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley. "That's what makes him Rubio."

Adelman does not call a lot of plays, asking his point guards to create, and the rest of the team to react accordingly. Every possession is ballet of backdoor cuts, and Rubio is again firing without hesitation. "I'd rather make two people happy than one," he says, a philosophy that has endeared him to teammates on two continents. Love, a potential free agent after this season, is especially appreciative. Still, Adelman harps on Rubio to shoot when open, no matter how uneasy it makes him. "You can't try to create something else," Adelman says. "You've got to take it."

If not for the last two years in Barcelona, Rubio wouldn't be able to handle the demands, but his coming-of-age has already occurred. "I learned that if you miss, you miss," Rubio says. "You don't always need to go over what happened. When you're young, you don't think about nothing. You just play because you enjoy it. That's what I'm going to do here. I'm going to enjoy it."

Rubio is not as strong as Jason Kidd, as quick as Rajon Rondo or as accurate as Steve Nash. But he is no Marko Jaric, either. The flop so many predicted has turned into a phenomenon. Rubio is a giver in a culture of takers, a genuine point guard in a league where the floor generals prefer to chuck. Someday he may need to score 20 a game, lead Minnesota to the playoffs and actually earn the All-Star votes he gets. But the Timberwolves are careful to limit pressure on a player who has already been paralyzed by it. Rubio has been in the NBA for less than a month and already he has rediscovered the alegría he came here to find.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/ ... /index.htm

[Simitar]

Last night was a good example of how Rubio can control a game when his shot isn't falling (1/8 and he even missed a couple bunnies).

He finished with 9 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds and 6 steals. Apparently he leads the league in steals, charges taken and alley-oop assists. The impressive thing about his steals is he gets them by not gambling or overplaying for them, but he gets them in the context of defense.

[Hizzy III]

Kyle Lowry's comin' for you, boy!

Actually, I'm looking forward to seeing Rubio play. He and Lowry should have a nice battle in a few days.

[Simitar]

I think Rubio is starting to wear down. As much as I love what Adelman is bringing, with all our injuries (and crap still on the roster), he's killing Love and Rubio.

Rubio's shooting the last 5 games has gone 3-10, 1-8, 1-11, 5-12, 2-10.

I think part of it is he's wearing down. Its not just so many games in so many days, but in Europe he never played more than 20-22 minutes per game. And while he's at 33 for the season, he's averaged 38 over his past 8 games.

[Bklyn]

Unfortunately, a lot of teams are dealing w/that fact.

[Bklyn]

http://www.goatpen.net/forums/viewtopic ... 443#p38443

[Simitar]

ESPN:

Since Ricky Rubio entered the starting lineup, the Timberwolves are 7-4 compared to just 3-7 with Rubio coming off the bench. Much of the Timberwolves' success lately is due to Rubio's superb play down the stretch of games.

Rubio was nearly flawless in the second half of the win over the Rockets on Monday, totaling seven assists and just one turnover while shooting 4-of-6 from the field. For the game, Rubio had 18 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds and three turnovers while shooting 6-of-10 from the field and 2-of-3 from 3-point range. It was perhaps Rubio's most complete game of the season.

In the second half of the last three games, Rubio has 18 assists and just one turnover. In those three games, the Timberwolves are +26 in the second half, including +14 in the second half of Monday's win.

In fact, it's the fourth time that Rubio has totaled at least seven rebounds and eight assists in a game, and the Timberwolves are now 4-0 in those games. Rubio has 10 double-digit assist games this season, which leads the NBA.

But the fourth quarter has been where Rubio has been at his best.

Rubio leads the NBA in fourth-quarter assists with 46. By comparison, the next-highest is Derrick Rose with 36. Over his last three games, Rubio has seven assists and zero turnovers in the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves are 2-1 in those games with a five-point loss to the Lakers sandwiched in between two wins.

During a three-game winning streak from January 16-20, Rubio had seven assists and two turnovers while the Timberwolves were a combined +33 in those fourth quarters. Rubio had 12 assists and five turnovers while his team was +45 in the second halves of those games.

Rubio is +38 in the fourth quarter this season, which ranks third in the NBA among point guards behind Derrick Rose and Jrue Holiday.

Rubio's shooting has drastically improved in the fourth quarter as compared to the first three quarters. He's shooting 42.0 percent from the field and 46.7 percent on 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter, but is shooting just 36.3 percent from the field and 30.3 percent on 3-point attempts in the first three quarters.

With Rubio's improved play since entering the starting lineup, especially late in games, the Timberwolves have exploded offensively. They've scored more than 100 points in four of their last seven games and are averaging 100.6 points in those seven games after scoring more than 100 only once in their previous nine games.

By Stats & Information's Ryan Feldman

[Simitar]

Rubio is getting most of the press, but Kevin Love is putting up a ridiculous season so far.

4th in Scoring.
2nd in rebounding.
3rd in FTAs, 2nd in makes.
And he's 12th in Made 3 pointers.

[Bklyn]

Kevin Love is a franchise player. Kahn fucked up with that contract. He's setting it up where Love and Rubio could walk out together.

[Simitar]

Kevin Love is a franchise player. Kahn fucked up with that contract. He's setting it up where Love and Rubio could walk out together.

Kahn still doesn't realize how good Love is. He actively was trying to trade him up until the 31/31 game last year. He almost had separate deals to trade him straight up for JaVale McGee and Nicolas Batum. Kahn doesn't understand how basketball games are won and his player evaluation is horrific. Only his own ineptness has enabled us to keep Love.

And honestly, Kahn is so enamored with Rubio, and he;s staked his entire career on him that I'm positive he wanted to hold onto the 5-year option for him. The funny this is Rubio is such a team guy and he has such a level of hero worship for Love, that Kevin signing the 5 year contract would've almost guaranteed Rubio would resign for the 4 years when his time is up.

[Simitar]

- Love said he's comfortable with the idea of Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin as the starting forwards for the Western Conference All-Star team. "They're fun to watch, they're fan favorites," he said. "If you don't like watching those guys play, you don't like basketball."

- Love on his decision to let his beard grow: "David Kahn doesn't like it, so I'll keep it."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/138612984.html

[Bklyn]

Adelman, Love and Rubio have changed the team's fortunes. I was skeptical of Love, as I thought he was putting up numbers on a crappy team, but I see that he's legit. I think Adelman is the perfect guy for the personnel.

[Simitar]

The nice thing about Love's game is he should age really well as a player. His game is all strength and smarts, not explosion or sheer athleticism.

[Simitar]

We just really need to move Derrick Williams for a better fitting part. Dude has talent, but he's a face-up 4 in the model of David West. Not a good compliment to Love at all.

I still believe we're going to really regret not taking Valanciunas.

[Simitar]

6 steals last night for Rubio - including one on the final play of the game to preserve the win.

One of the things that has impressed me most about him is his awareness on the defensive end of the court. As much as we talk about his amazing passing, he seems to have the same vision on the defensive end. At least 2-3 times a game I see the opposing team execute some weak side action where a big will back pick a Wolves wing player and then rotate towards the hoop. In past seasons, this guy would have gone unguarded and we would have been witness to a bunch of thunderous dunks. This year, Ricky sees the play unfolding on the weak side, and casually drops down to cut off the passing lane to the big. It takes all of a half of a second and it's really something of a sleight move, but it ends up saving 4-6 points a game. It never fails. It's a thing of beauty.