The Cleveland Cavaliers jumped out to a big lead at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, and shot 9-of-12 from three-point range in the first quarter. In that opening period, Kevin Love nailed four triples himself, and even with both teams shorthanded and missing some key contributors, the Cavs looked to be rolling once again, as they have a bunch in December.
Unfortunately, from there, the Pelicans kept chipping away, and even with the Cavaliers leading by 10 at halftime, it was evident that New Orleans had been generating momentum.
Granted, throughout stretches of the game, it was clear that the Cavaliers were missing Darius Garland, who reportedly entered into the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols on Tuesday. Even with Ricky Rubio being hardly a typical backup point guard for Cleveland, as he’s been a starter for essentially all of his career normally prior to this season, and he’s been a heck of a supersub-type presence for the Cavs, it was apparent Garland was still missed.
That’s not to take anything away from Rubio, though, and he had 27 big points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists, to go with two steals and even two blocks in 37 minutes. The Cavs just at times needed some help for Rubio, seemingly.
And in the final three quarters, following a 39-20 first quarter advantage for Cleveland, the Pelicans outscored the Cavs, with them ultimately doing so 33-21 in the fourth, leading to a 108-104 comeback win. The Cavaliers at one point led by 23 points.
On a positive note, Love played well again with 24 points, and Evan Mobley, who had missed Cleveland’s last four games due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols, did a nice job, this time often playing the 5 with Jarrett Allen still in protocols.
Mobley once again showed his great touch on push shots, made a few really impressive cuts, and even put in a few great fadeaways.
Mobley did look a bit rusty on the defensive end at times, and had three pretty quick fouls, limiting his first half minutes, and Jonas Valanciunas for some stretches was a tough matchup for Cleveland in general, with his strength.
And credit definitely goes to the likes of Herbert Jones, who was outstanding all night in transition for the Pelicans, en route to the rookie having a season-high 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting, to go with seven rebounds and three blocks. The energy he provided, especially without Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart, was huge, and Garrett Temple was big in a spot start, with 17 points, including him going 5-of-6 on threes.
That being said, while Mobley’s performance was the positive, in what was frustrating with the Cavs in control for much of the game, what transpired near the end of the game with Rubio made the L feel so much worse.
Rubio getting injured near the end of this Tuesday loss really makes this one sting for the Cavs.
With 2:20 left, Rubio on a drive to the basket, went down awkwardly, seemingly due to non-contact and it was an apparant knee injury, which was very concerning.
He was grabbing the left knee where he tore his ACL in 2012, motioned to the bench right away, and had to be helped by teammates to get off the floor to get to the locker room. The fact that Rubio couldn’t put any weight on that leg where the knee injury seemingly occurred made this loss to New Orleans sting even more, given all that Rubio means to this team.
On the season, he’s proven to be an invaluable player after being acquired via trade in the offseason from the Minnesota Timberwolves, and has had 13.1 points, 6.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds per contest, to go with 1.4 steals per outing.
Regarding an injury update for Rubio, we’ll see on Wednesday here, as Rubio will undergo an MRI on his knee on Wednesday, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
In the near term, with Garland out as well still for a week to week-and-a-half, one would assume the likes of Denzel Valentine could get some more playmaking work, Kevin Pangos to fill in and for Cedi Osman, when he clears protocols, to have some de facto primary playmaking work. Even when Garland is back, however, it’s unfortunate, with Collin Sexton out, that this Rubio injury seems to be a significant one.
Perhaps the Cavaliers look to make a move, as the lead up to the trade deadline comes in time here; the Ben Simmons rumors are there, but we’ll see. We’ll leave that to a later day for now, and it’s something I’d assume would more so be a multi-team deal, and with the Sexton and now-Rubio situations? I have my doubts.
Maybe other targets pop up in rumors to come here in ensuing weeks for backup point guards; a Malik Newman reported likely 10-day hardship exception signing, from a guard perspective, won’t mean much. Either way, I’d imagine Cleveland will look to have quality passers in Kevin Love and Evan Mobley heavily involved as secondary playmakers more to help out Garland, too.
Hopefully this Rubio news isn’t too crushing; one would assume it’s not going to be any relieving news, though. And to think things have been going so well for this Cavs team. Ugh.