The Clevland Cavaliers are very short-handed at this current moment and they seem to have taken yet another blow as their starting shooting guard, Collin Sexton has torn his meniscus in his left knee. Sexton is one of the driving forces leading this Cavaliers team to a 7-4 record.
Sexton also is one of the team’s top scorers and can seemingly get any shot he wants whenever he wants it. With the Return of Issac Okoro tonight the Cavs regain a big piece of their young core and a great defender, but who will make up for the lost scouring while Sexton is out?
The answer is the backup point guard and sixth man of the year candidate Ricky Rubio. Ricky Rubio was acquired by the Cavaliers before the start of the season in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves for Torian Prince. Rubio has now become one of the most important and hard-working players on the team in just a very short amount of time.
Ricky Rubio brings veteran experience, great playmaking skills, and a coll level head onto the court. Rubio is coming off a career game where he scored 37 points and shot 8-9 from behind the three-point line.
Ricky Rubio will help fill the absence of Collin Sexton
“Point guard Darius Garland’s usage rate will increase. That will provide more opportunities to facilitate and get extra shots. Same with backup Ricky Rubio, who stepped into the starting lineup during the second half against the Knicks, finishing with a career-best 37 points. The Rubio-Garland pairing will get more run. Together, they are outscoring opponents by 15.8 points per 100 possessions.” reports Cleveland.com.
Darius Garland will get a lot more scoring opportunities with Collin Sexton out with an injury and that could be great for the young point guard. Garland has already proven he is an elite playmaker, and now it is time for him to show the league that he is an elite scorer as well.
It will be very interesting to see who will step up the most in Sexton’s absence as it could literally be anyone. That is the beauty of this Cavs team, anyone on any given night could go off for a career game.
For now, we will have to wait and see as tipoff is at 7:00 pm EST tonight. Will the Cavaliers get their fifth straight win and improve to 8-4 on the young season? Or will the Washington Wizards push past the Cavaliers and snap their four-game win streak? This is deferentially a must-watch game.
Amanda Lynne