The Minnesota Timberwolves of Ricky Rubio and Juancho Hernangómez got their second win against the Utah Jazz in a game in which the Spanish point guard showed a better harmony with his new teammates while rookie Anthony Edwards begins to show why he has been number 1 in this year’s draft.
In the second game played by the Minnesota Timberwolves this season, Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio returned to Salt Lake City to play against the Utah Jazz, the team he played for two seasons between 2017 and 2019.
Against the Jazz, Ricky worked from the first moment he jumped onto the court and it showed in the team’s performance. Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders has assigned Rubio the position of sixth man in his scheme, leaving the Catalan point guard on the bench until the middle of the first quarter.
¡¡ @ rickyrubio9 !!
9 points, 6 assists, 6 recoveries and 4 rebounds
The @Timberwolves They stand 2-0 pic.twitter.com/PVRAw4AmOn
– NBA Spain (@NBAspain) December 27, 2020
When Rubio jumped onto the court with 6.12 minutes to go in the first quarter, the giant Vivint Smart Home Arena scoreboard reflected a 12-point tie. When the fourth ended, the Timberwolves were ahead by four, 27-31.
With Ricky on the court, the ball moved faster in attack, which made it easier to throw off the Jazz defense and that men like rookie Anthony Edwards, Dominican-American Karl Anthony Towns or D’Angelo Russell were in. the best position to score.
The second quarter started with Juancho on the court and Ricky on the bench. The Minnesotans maintained a four-point lead until 7.25 minutes to go, the point guard from El Masnou again.
With Ricky on the track, the Timberwolves’ lead was stretched and the Minnesotans went into halftime 15 points ahead of Jazz, 53-68.
As Saunders noted after the game, the Timberwolves are beginning to benefit from the Ricky’s ability to get the ball out of his court and into the paint. Proof of this are Rubio’s four assists during the second quarter.
The same pattern was repeated in the second half of the game. The growing rapport of Minnesota players paid off on offense and defense. The pairing of Russell and Rubio worked smoothly and Jazz’s efforts were not paying off. The third quarter ended 79-88, eight points ahead.
Only in the last minutes of the fourth period, Utahns hit the gas and they came within two points, 111-113 with six seconds remaining in the game.
The proximity on the scoreboard forced Saunders to recover Towns, who had had to retire to the locker room after a collision that injured his shoulder.
In the end, Ricky and Juancho’s Timberwolves accumulated their second victory by closing the score with 111-116, thanks to the contributions of Russell (25 points), Edwards (18 points) and Malik Beasley (18 points). Rubio finished the game with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal while Juancho was content with 1 rebound.
Among the Utah Jazz, the most prominent were Jordan Clarkson (23 points), Donovan Mitchell (21 points) and Mike Conley (20 points).
