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Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio lost for season to torn ACL
- Updated: March 11, 2012
Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Ricky Rubio’s sensational rookie season has come to a devastatingly abrupt end.
The Minnesota Timberwolves point guard will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL in his left knee, the team announced Saturday. Now the upstart Wolves will have to keep chasing a playoff berth without the flashy, fiery leader of the franchise’s resurgence.
Losing Ricky Rubio hurts basketball fans everywhere, not just in Minnesota. (AP Photo)
“It’s a big emotional shock,” All-Star forward Kevin Love said. “He makes winning plays. He’s a winner. We love having him around. On and off the court. We hope for a speedy recovery so he can help this team next year. It’s a big loss for us.”
It also means that Rubio will miss the upcoming Olympics, where he was expected to be a vital part of Spain’s bid for the gold medal.
Rubio went down in the closing seconds of a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night, when his knee buckled as he tried to help out on defense against Kobe Bryant. An MRI on Saturday confirmed everyone’s fears, and there were plenty of long faces before the Wolves hosted the New Orleans Hornets.
“It’s just too bad,” coach Rick Adelman said. “He was having such a great year, he had such a great influence on our team and the way our team was playing and I think the league. It’s too bad any time you see a young player go down like that with an injury like that. You feel for him more than anyone else.”
A date for surgery has not yet been set, but team president David Kahn said he expected Rubio to be back for the start of next season.
In his first season after coming from Spain, the 21-year-old was averaging 10.6 points and 8.2 assists, but his impact has been so much greater than his numbers.
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