Utah Jazz: 2017-18 player grades for Ricky Rubio

Highlights

As I mentioned earlier, Rubio looked like an improved version of himself through the first eight games of the year. He particularly had it going in a Nov. 1 game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Rubio finished with a +4 for the game, scoring 30 points with four rebounds and a couple of steals.

Rubio had only one assist in this game, when he put Ed Davis on skates off the dribble and rifled a pass to Mitchell on the elbow as Pat Connaughton came over to help. He picked up most of his points via pull-up jumpers and trips to the foul line, hitting all 11 of his attempts from the charity stripe.

In the Jazz’s Feb. 3 win over the San Antonio Spurs, Rubio was a big factor. He scored a career-high 34 points on an efficient 11-for-14 shooting performance. With a 30.2 game score, this was Rubio’s best game of the season, and his +15 backs this up too.

Like the Portland game, Rubio did most of his damage with drives and pull-ups. When the Spurs defense keyed up on him, Rubio simply dished it around to a teammate for one of his nine assists.

Rubio’s most memorable performance, however, took place in the playoffs. In Game 3 of the Jazz’s first round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Rubio became the first Utah player since John Stockton (who else would it have been) to record a triple-double in the playoffs.

With his 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Rubio bested perennial triple-double machine Russell Westbrook and the rest of OKC with his usual array of pull-ups and sharp passes.