Ricky Rubio’s two-way expertise is making difference now for Cavs

It’s been good to see Ricky Rubio back in the fold for the Cleveland Cavaliers in recent weeks. The veteran guard returned for the Cavaliers last month following a full-year recovery from a torn ACL, and he’s gradually been finding his way since.

Rubio is not fully back yet, per se, as he’s not been playing in back-to-back situations, which was reportedly expected, and offensively, there’s been some rust from him. Coming off the said injury, that hasn’t been surprising, either, and fans had to be realistic about their expectations for Rubio upon his return.

Fortunately, it appears as if the veteran playmaker is beginning to find his rhythm, and his two-way play has made a difference for the Cavaliers of late as he’s gotten more comfortable.

The scoring splits haven’t been notable, but Rubio’s passing vision and timing have given the Cavs a jolt, and his defense has been meaningful for the group in his minutes. And in recent games, he’s demonstrated how he’s starting to find his groove for the Wine and Gold, which is key with the team surging heading toward the All-Star break.

Rubio is beginning to find his groove for the Cavs, and his two-way expertise will continue to help the team.

Rubio’s traditional splits haven’t been nearly in the ball park of what they were last season, prior to his injury, for Cleveland. Then, he had what would’ve been tied for a career-best with 13.1 points per game, to go with 6.6 assists and 4.1 rebounds on average, and that was in 28.5 minutes per outing.

In his appearances thus far in his return, he’s averaged 5.7 points and 3.8 assists in what’s been 16.8 minutes per outing. His effective field goal shooting clip has been 41.1, and Rubio has shot only 28.3 percent from three on what’s been 3.3 attempts per game.

That being said, one had to anticipate that it’d take time for the veteran to regain his footing out there, and coming off a long recovery, that’s played out. But as we’ve expressed, he’s beginning to find his groove and impact games on both ends recently for the Cavaliers.

In his last seven appearances, Rubio hasn’t been lighting it up as a scorer with 6.9 points per contest, however, he’s had 4.7 assists per game in that stretch, to only 0.9 turnovers. In that span, he’s had a robust plus-minus of plus-6.4 and has tacked on 1.6 steals per outing then, in 19.0 minutes.

He’s tallied four or more assists in six of those seven outings, and he had nine assists in 20 minutes in a Feb. 5 win at the Indiana Pacers. And despite him not registering a point in Cleveland’s Saturday game versus the Chicago Bulls, Rubio’s playmaking on both ends was instrumental in the outcome. He was a game-high plus-14 in that comeback win, and had five assists and three steals in 17 minutes.

Following that outing, Rubio was awarded with the Cavs Junkyard Dog Chain by J.B. Bickerstaff and company, and rightfully so. Even with him going zero-for-six on shooting in that game, Rubio’s play on both ends as a ball-mover, heady passer and decision-maker, and his defensive prowess were crucial in helping the Cavs rebound in their game in the second half.

Rubio was a bit out of sorts at times in the Cavs’ 117-109 win over the ultra-young San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, and he was a plus-one in 23 minutes. That was a game where the Cavaliers had rough moments in the second half, too, and credit to the Spurs for making things interesting in the fourth quarter, as they wouldn’t go away.

By and large, though, while the shooting/scoring is going to take a bit more time to be there game-to-game as he hopefully finds that, Rubio’s two-way expertise is now making a difference for the Cavs again, such as in this seven-game winning streak. That will help Cleveland’s core guys of course, and also players such as Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade and one would think in some stretches, recent signing Danny Green.

It’s clear that the 32-year-old in Rubio still knows how to manage games when he’s in there off the bench, and defensively, his playmaking is still so valuable.