Larry Brown Sports

The US men’s basketball team beat Spain 100-78 in its final exhibition game before heading to London for the Olympics. The contest was a rematch of the 2008 gold medal game in Beijing won by the US, and Spain has made it clear it’s out for revenge.

Not only has Marc Gasol been critical of the current US squad, but Serge Ibaka has also said the Spanish team compares well to the US team. Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio, who is recovering from a major knee injury, talked a little trash to his Minnesota Timberwolves teammate and Olympics opponent Kevin Love before the game:

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It’s that time of year again, boys and girls: prom season. And taking a cue from other recent proposals directed to Tim Tebow and “Jerry” Lin, a Minneapolis-area high school senior has decided to aim high by asking Ricky Rubio through a YouTube video to be her prom date.

Champlin Park senior Georgetta Wuo, 18, posted her invitation to Rubio last Friday. Some of Rubio’s teammates on the Timberwolves have seen the video and think he should go.

“I don’t think he’s ever been to prom, so I think it’d be fun for him,” J.J. Barea said to WCCO-TV.

Rubio, of course, has plenty of free time on his hands now that he’s sidelined beyond the Olympics after tearing his ACL last month.

“Heck yeah, he should do it,” Anthony Tolliver said. “Why not? He’s not going to be doing anything!”

At least they wouldn’t have to worry about limo service with transportation already taken care of. Slow dances might be a little complicated, though.

Most NBA fans suffered heartbreak after Ricky Rubio tore his ACL last week, thus putting him on the shelf for the rest of the season as well as the Olympics this summer. But don’t feel bad for Ricky. If the above video is any indication, his recovery is going well. Just a chill day playing around on a scooter in a store’s gift wrap aisle while music by Kevin Love’s uncle plays. Everything about this video is brilliant.

And by the way, we’re totally down for Rubio being Spain’s flag bearer in the Olympics if this is the way he does it.

H/T The Basketball Jones

Timberwolves rookie point guard Ricky Rubio suffered a knee injury in the final minute of his team’s loss to the Lakers Friday. Rubio was coming over to the wing to double team Kobe Bryant when his knee seemed to buckle on a jump stop. Kobe Bryant then ran into him, and it appeared as if Kobe’s left leg went into Rubio’s knee. It’s unclear whether Rubio’s knee was hurt when he landed awkwardly, or from Kobe colliding with him, but he went down in pain. We think he may have tweaked the knee on the landing and then the collision with Kobe compounded things.

Rubio is scheduled to undergo an MRI Saturday and the team has temporarily termed it a “left knee injury.” Yahoo! Sports says the T-Wolves fear Rubio may have torn his ACL, an injury that would end his season and require several months of rehab.

UPDATE: An MRI showed Rubio has a torn ACL, knocking him out for the season. Rehab generally takes 6-9 months.

Video via Eye on Basketball

Has Ricky Rubio been treated unfairly by the NBA and its officials? The Timberwolves believe he has. Rubio is having an extremely efficient season by rookie standards, averaging 10.6 points and 8.3 assists per game. But if you ask Minnesota head coach Rick Adelman, the point guard would be having a better year if opponents weren’t allowed to be so physical with him.

“All our young guys are learning that, Ricky especially,” Adelman said when asked about opposing defenses shutting down the Wolves offense, according to the Star Tribune. “They’re putting bigger guys on him. …They’re beating the hell out of him right now. The league has figured out you have to be physical with him. And he’s kind of learning on the fly.’’

Minnesota president of basketball operations David Kahn said the team has sent tape to the league in an attempt to call attention to what they believe is overly physical play against their rookie. If Rubio has been bothered by it, he is not tipping his hand.

“I mean, it’s close to end of the season, everybody wants to get a spot in the playoff and everybody start to play more physically,” Rubio said. “You know, it is what it is. We just have to play at the same level or even harder.”

As for whether or not the game is more aggressive in America, Rubio said it’s bound to be tougher since you’re going against the best players in the world. At this point in the season, I doubt the refs are going to start giving Rubio more calls. In Minnesota’s eyes, whining to the league can’t hurt.

Not even star players from foreign countries are immune to a little rookie hazing. Timberwolves forward Kevin Love tweeted Sunday that teammate Ricky Rubio would be wearing the Justin Bieber backpack seen above for the rest of the season. It’s a funny idea on the surface, but how about a little originality, guys. We’ve seen that exact same backpack used before for rookie hazing.

While this may be embarrassing, Rubio got off easily — at least he didn’t have to dress up as Lady Gaga.

Picture Credit: Kevin Love

The Timberwolves held their own in a 106-101 loss to the Lakers on Sunday night.  With fellow countrymen Pau Gasol and Ricky Rubio sharing the court, some friendly trash talk was expected.  I’m sure there was some chatter going back and forth in Spanish during the game, but the trash talking was done after the game.  When Kobe Bryant passed Gasol and Rubio in the hallway, he and Rubio threw some friendly jabs about the Olympics back and forth.  Check out this video that Marca.com shared with us:

“You talking about London?,” Bryant asked Gasol and Rubio outside the locker rooms of the Target Center.

“Oh yeah,” Gasol said.

“You’re gonna be there?” Rubio asked Bryant.

Kobe said that he was, to which Rubio responded: “You know you’re getting the silver medal. You know that.”

“S*** . I’m taking bets! … If I win I get the keys to Barcelona.” Kobe fired back

Nice to see the new guy isn’t intimidated by the best player in the NBA.

H/T to Sporting News and Hoops Hype