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Just 'Another Rock In The Road' For Rubio

Wolves guard Ricky Rubio sprained his ankle back on Nov. 7 against the Orlando Magic. He addressed the media for the first time after Thursday's practice. Our Kyle Ratke and Dane Mizutani take a look at the injury, what he's done since, and what his road to recovery will look like. 

The Injury

It was a Friday night in Orlando. The date was Nov. 7 and the Wolves were playing their second game on a 13-day road trip.

Orlando was coming back late in the second quarter, down just 48-45 with 2:32 left in the first half, but it never really looked like Minnesota was about to lose the game. That was until Rubio saw an open lane after Andrew Wiggins set a pick on Orlando rookie Elfrid Payton. Rubio hesitated and saw an opening and drove to the basket. Guard Willie Green stepped in front of Rubio and forced him to abandon the drive and dish the ball out.

While Green stepped in, Rubio’s left foot hit Green’s left foot, causing it to roll. And roll badly. At first glance, it looked like he had to have broken it.

“When I went down, I felt a little pop and I knew it was over because as soon as I looked at my ankle, it was swelling up already. I was afraid because I thought something was broken, but finally (I found out) nothing was broken, so thank God for that."

Rubio was taken out of the game and Orlando went on to outscore Minnesota 67-55 the rest of the game on its way to a 112-103 win.

After the game, the team informed media members that it was a significant sprain, but the extent of it wasn't known yet. The good news, though, was no fracture.

Rubio was on his way to another strong performance in the game, having four points, six assists and three rebounds in 13 minutes of play. He was also coming off of perhaps one of the most impressive games in his career in a seven-point win over the Brooklyn Nets earlier in the week. Rubio finished with 14 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds and two steals. He shot 6-of-11 from the field and made shots like this – something Wolves fans were longing to see during his first three seasons in the league.

In fact, in the four games before the Orlando game, Rubio was off to his best start as a pro. He was averaging 10.7 points, 11 assists (career-high), 6.3 rebounds (career-high) and 1.5 steals per game. The mark fans enjoyed the most was his shooting. The Spaniard was shooting 41.8 percent from the field – three percent better than his previous career high last season.

After a great start and signing a new extension with the Wolves, Rubio’s season was all of the sudden a question mark.

“It’s just another rock in my road. Get over it and like I say, always try to stay positive.”

What Now?

Rubio has a lot of time on his hands now as he works his way back from his severely sprained left ankle. He sticks around the team as much as he can, but because he can’t do much in practices or games, he has so much time that he doesn’t know what to do with himself.

“I don’t want to have that much time,” Rubio said sheepishly Thursday afternoon as he addressed members of the media for the first time since he went down against the Orlando Magic two weeks ago. “That’s more time that I can think about what happened and stuff.”

Rubio said he keeps in frequent contact with his family and friends — they serve as healthy forms of distractions amid his injury — and said he Skyped with his parents in Spain for about two hours Tuesday night.

“It was a great feeling, great therapy,” he said, adding that he’s leaned on his teammates a lot in the past two weeks."

Rubio has also taken to reading books and playing video games, namely NBA 2K15, as of late. He’s a modest 79 overall in 2K, but the virtual Rubio has been snapping over the last two weeks on the big screen of the actual Rubio.

“I play with myself and score 40 points so it feels like I’m playing again,” he said with a grin. “It’s something that I’m trying to stay positive about.”

That grin is something that was almost as noticeable as the crutches that helped him get around on Thursday afternoon. Rubio, while he was without a doubt upset about his injury, also seemed at peace with the recovery process, his demeanor unchanged.

“I look at things in a good way,” Rubio said. “I know everything helps for a reason and that helps me.” 

 From Player To Spectator

Rubio sat on the bench with his crutch to his side. He was wearing a suit, a vest and a bow-tie. He looked like he was going to the Academy Awards, not a basketball game. Rubio sat there cheering his team on, yelling with fellow injured player Ronny Turiaf. There were smiles. That's expected when the team is winning, though.

The Wolves are a better team when Rubio is on the court, but on this Wednesday night against the Knicks, Minnesota didn’t need him.  The Wolves took down Carmelo Anthony’s club 115-99 thanks to some great play from Kevin Martin. Mo Williams, starting at point guard, did his best Rubio impression, tallying up 13 assists.

“It wasn’t hard to watch because they were playing good and they got me hyped… with that pass to Shabazz  and the alley-oop. I jumped and twisted my ankle again,” Rubio joked. “But I told him, ‘you got me hyped.’ I wanted to go and get my uniform back and get on the court.”

When the Wolves led 64-51 at half, Rubio had some words for the team.

“At halftime before the coaches came out and talked to us, (Rubio) was coming out and telling us good job and keep the intensity up,” said Shabazz Muhammad, who finished with 17 points and a team-high eight boards. “(He's) just trying to help us out. That’s what big-time players do and like Ricky, he always does that stuff.”

Can You Be A Leader If You’re Not Playing?

Rubio’s intensity on the bench was seen at various points throughout the game as he was clearly still trying to lead even though he wasn’t on the actual court.

“It’s harder maybe because the way I like to lead the team especially with the younger guys is to lead by example, come to every practice... play hard, and in the games the same thing,” Rubio said. “I can’t do that now so I have to be more vocal and my English is improving so I can talk to them more often and they understand me.”

Head coach Saunders used the word “communicator” opposed to “leader” when asked about the things Rubio brings from the bench.  

“It’s very difficult for people not playing because they’re not in the heat of the battle,” Saunders said. “He’s trying to lead and what he can do is he can be communicator with Mo, he can be a communicator with Zach (LaVine) with stuff that he sees, and when Zach is on the bench and he’s there he can talk to him. It’s tough to be a leader. … He can be more of a communicator than he can be a leader.”

Rubio, whatever his role might is right now, is still trying to do everything he can to help the team. He knows in the meantime his team will hold down the fort.

“They showed that they have a lot of talent and we’ve seen a lot of that,” Rubio said of some of the younger guys on the team. “They’re here because we want to win.”

The Treatment

Right now, it looks like Rubio will be with the team at home, but won't be making any road trips. He'll be rehabbing and receiving treatment here in the Twin Cities.

"First of all, of course I want to help the team and be with them," Rubio said. "But first of all, I’m thinking I’m going to be a little selfish about my ankle, and try to be the best I can, do the best rehab I can. So if it’s traveling with the team, I will. If it’s staying here, I will stay here. Haven’t talked to them yet, because after the long trip we’re staying here a week and a half. So we will see after a week how I feel and what I can do and if I can do it on the road or stay here."

Is There A Time Table?

As far as an exact timetable on Rubio’s return, there really isn’t an exact timetable at the moment. Saunders said Rubio will be reevaluated early next week and that the team will have a better idea of his potential return after that.

Rubio was honest when asked about when he expected to play again.

“You should ask the doctors because I don’t ask that question,” he said. “I don’t want to know that far. I just want to get pain free. It depends and everybody is different. You ask the doctor and if he answers that question tell me because they’re not answering me that question.”

Rubio does have an idea of when he’d like to return, though. His family is coming to visit around Christmastime so he’d like to be back on the court by the time they arrive in the Twin Cities.  

“I hope that they can see me play,” Rubio said.