Watch Ricky Rubio Score A Career-High In The Season Opener

The Minnesota Timberwolves opened their season with heavy hearts after the passing of coach and general manager, Flip Saunders. They channeled that emotion into a strong performance against the Los Angeles Lakers in a 112-111 victory. (If they win just 16 more, they’ll best last year’s win total.) Ricky Rubio shined in the game, scoring a career-high 28 points and dishing out 14 assists. Rubio missed a large portion of the season last year after a high-ankle sprain, but he shook off any injury doubts by blowing past Laker point guards all evening.

The prevailing critique about the fifth-year point guard from Spain surrounds his ability to score. Rubio has never shot more than 38 percent from the field in any one season. His struggles from the outside are well-documented, but his conversion rate at the rim is even worse. For a season, Rubio has never shot more than 50 percent on attempts inside of three feet from the basket. The league average was more than 62 percent at that distance last year, while he shot a career-worst 33 percent. That’s a shade more than half of the league average. That is very bad.

However, on Wednesday night, Rubio looked like a brand new player. He converted 10-of-17 shots from all over the floor, including 3-of-5 near the rim and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. The Lakers sagged off in their pick-and-roll coverage against Rubio to distort his passing angles and dare him to shoot, but he made them pay with his mid-range game. He played with a confidence of someone who spent all summer working on his jumper. Rubio could make a mini-leap if he can sustain even a semblance of accuracy from the outside.

While Ricky’s scoring efficiency was laudable, it was clear in his comments to the Star Tribune after the game that he was dedicating the win to his former coach.

“We had a little help today. It’s been a tough week. It’s hard to explain. Everybody go through a lot of pain, but we came here to fight, compete and try to win the game…Even though he’s gone, he will stay with us forever.”