The Cleveland Cavaliers are riding high on a five-game win streak, and tonight return home to host the Chicago Bulls. In the aftermath of the NBA Trade Deadline, these two teams were the only ones not to make a single deal during deadline season. Will they have all of those preserved rosters for this game?
Ricky Rubio injury update (Updated February 11th)
Note: This will be updated closer to tip-off at 8:00 pm ET with the official word on Ricky Rubio’s injury status.
Ricky Rubio returned earlier this season after a 13-month recovery from a torn ACL. Every so often, generally on one end or the other of a back-to-back, Rubio will sit out the game to help manage the knee. Last night he stayed home in Cleveland for the dominant win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
#Cavs will roll with their same starting lineup until there is a reason to change it.
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) February 11, 2023
Darius Garland. Donovan Mitchell. Isaac Okoro. Evan Mobley. Jarrett Allen.
Ricky Rubio is OUT because of injury maintenance. The person taking his minutes tonight will depend on game flow
Cedi Osman took his spot in the rotation as J.B. Bickerstaff kept to his eight-man rotation, and the results were exemplary. This Cavs team is deep and have multiple options at every position. Even so, the Cavaliers would love to have Ricky Rubio back in the lineup. Will he play tonight?
Right now that’s up in the air, and the team has given no indication — they likely will closer to the top-off at 8:00 PM. Rubio’s pattern has been to play one side of a back-to-back, and it seems reasonable that the team would have chosen to hold him out of the front-end so that he didn’t need to make the quick turnaround to fly back to Cleveland. While his teammates were boarding a plane, he could be enjoying a glass of red wine in his hot tub, or whatever he does for fun.
That vicious back-to-back is a tough one for the team. They had a 10:00 PM ET top-off last night, then flew back to Cleveland for a game against the Bulls just 22 hours later. There is a strong chance the Cavs decide to sit other players given the whiplash turnaround.
For now we await word from the team on the injury report. Dylan Windler is the only player definitely out tonight, but that list could expand in the coming hours.
For the Chicago Bulls, Lonzo Ball and Javonte Green remain out of the lineup. Patrick Williams, Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan are all on the injury report but listed as probable for tonight’s game. It’s likely the Bulls are close to full strength to face the Cavaliers.
The Cavs are young and hungry enough that they probably won’t just sit the entire core wholesale tonight, but nagging injuries to Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland could cause one or both to sit tonight out. Ricky Rubio, however, looks like a great bet to play tonight after resting last night, so expect to see him in uniform and on the court.