It’s easy to see why Rubio being back means so much to these Cavs

On Thursday night, despite a less than stellar first half, and Damian Lillard having a 50-point performance, the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to find a way to win at the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Cavaliers had from their best performance for much of the night, and at one point, were down by 14 in the second quarter, but they kept themselves within striking distance, and were chipping away from the mid-second through the third quarter. Lillard again would have 50 points, and got the foul line 15 times, but Cleveland would stay the course, and in the fourth quarter, finally would have their first lead.

From there, in the fourth, behind the efforts of Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland, all of whom had 20-plus points in the game, the Cavs would outscore Portland 32-22, and grind out a 119-113 victory. In the game, Cleveland had 68 points in the paint, and it was a nice way to rebound in-game in the fourth contest of their current five-game Western road trip, and the Cavaliers now are at 27-16 on the season.

One of the biggest storylines heading into Thursday’s contest, though, or perhaps the biggest, was the likely return of Ricky Rubio.

Ricky Rubio made his season debut for Cleveland, after which he came back from over a year recovery from tearing the ACL in his left knee back in December of 2021. Rubio was traded to the Indiana Pacers as part of the package for Caris LeVert last season near the deadline, but then Rubio signed back with Cleveland last offseason, for clarification.

It was a long road back for the veteran, who suffered the same injury back with the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier on in his career, and it’s going to take some stretch of games before Rubio is really back, so-to-speak. Having said that, it was terrific to see him back in there, even with it only being 10 minutes.

He had nine points, three rebounds and one assist in that span. Still, the presence was there, and as he gets more comfortable, his impact will give Cleveland a significant boost.

It’ll take time for him to get reacclimated, but Rubio’s return means so much to the Cavs.

Rubio’s aforementioned statline didn’t illuminate it, and he played 10 minutes, so one has to take the performance with a grain of salt. Rubio will reportedly play around 12-15 minutes, typically, earlier on in the ensuing games since his return, and it’s going to be somewhat touch-and-go as to how he’s managed, one would assume.

That said, in his minutes, Rubio being a plus-six, making a couple threes, and helping the Cavaliers get on the same page in that limited time was a snapshot of how he can make a sizeable difference for this team when he’s fully back.

One shouldn’t expect him to have near last seasons’ production he had in 34 appearances, but his passing and game management will be meaningful in stretches, either with or without Darius Garland on the floor with him, for one. And defensively, his impeccable timing, active hands and length should lead to the Cavs being more disruptive, even if that’s in an off-ball sense primarily.

But generally, from both the tangible and intangible perspective, it’s not difficult to understand why Rubio is such an impactful player and presence for these Cavaliers. For his efforts, and with how he’s worked his way back tirelessly, Rubio was given the latest Junkyard Dog Chain by the Wine and Gold/J.B. Bickerstaff.

Rubio has widely been known as being an amazing teammate and leader, and it’s easy to tell that the Cavs and his teammates have so much admiration for the player, and person, he is and how he carries himself.

Welcome back, Ricky.