Shootaround Access | Rubio Looks To Stay Hot

The Minnesota Timberwolves will take on the Sacramento Kings tonight at the Target Center as Minnesota will look to come away with a victory after losing a close battle to the Golden State Warriors on Monday.

In order for the Wolves to win tonight, they might need a great performance from their point guard Ricky Rubio, who has taken his game to the next level as of late.

“It’s very impressive, this is something that Ricky has done his whole life,” Karl-Anthony Towns said of Rubio recent play. “He continues to progress as a great basketball player and he’s getting better every single day. When you have a person like that who’s that determined to be the best at their craft it makes all of us better.”

Over his last five games, Rubio is averaging five more points per game than his season average and is making 10 percent more of the shots he takes.

“I think he’s starting to shoot the ball a lot better,” Shabazz Muhammad said. “Teams this year haven’t really been respecting his 3-point shot and he’s been proving a lot of teams wrong and that’s really been helping us out as a team.”

Since March 11, Rubio is averaging 15 points, 11.4 assists, four rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. On top of those great stats, the 25-year-old Spaniard is making 95.8 percent of his free-throw attempts and is shooting 41.7 percent from beyond the arc. 

“Ricky’s playing well, making shots, cutting down on his turnovers, always a good passer. He’s playing well,” Gorgui Dieng said. “We look like a different team when he’s making shots, we look like a better team when he’s making shots.”

In a great matchup of pass-first point guards, Rubio will be defending Rajon Rondo who leads the league in assists with 11.7 per game.

“They both do the intangibles of the game, they make you offense happen, they can make an average player a good player, they can find the 3-ball, which in today’s game is huge,” Kings coach George Karl said. “Anytime the ball is in that guy’s hands that much, he has a tremendous impact on your offense flows and operates. Defensively they’re both clever defenders. They have the ability to have a defensive game, Rubio especially, can get steals into the game, he has very active hands, he’s a very creative defender. He may not be a stopper, but he’s a creative defender off of the basketball and does a lot of cute stuff out there.”

It will be a must-watch battle tonight at 7 p.m. as the Wolves will look to take down the 27-43 Sacramento Kings.

Minnesota officially announced today that they have signed forward Greg Smith to a contract lasting through the end of the season. 

“It’s a blessing, it’s really, truly a blessing,” Smith said. “I just came in, put my hard hat on, worked hard, showed the team that I was committed to playing with them and showing them that I can be a part of this organization. I’m glad they gave me the opportunity to play here for the remainder of this year and hopefully next year.”