Ricky Rubio’s second stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves has been far from a happy homecoming to start.
The Wolves got blown out by the LA Clippers on Tuesday by the final of 124-101. The drubbing came after another lopsided 127-91 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. After Tuesday’s defeat, Rubio did not hold back about the team’s play.
“When things weren’t going our way, everybody goes playing selfish,” Rubio said, per Jace Frederick of the Pioneer Press. “We have to learn. There’s a lot of excuses. We’re young, blah, blah, blah, this and that, but once you step on the court, you’re playing for an NBA team, and the last two games, it’s been ridiculously bad.
“I don’t know if it’s because there’s no fans and the situation we live in right now, but that can’t continue,” added Rubio. “We gotta do something about it … We have to show some pride. There’s things we can’t accept and one of them is [that] we can lose games in this league. There’s a lot of guys who can compete and beat you. But we can’t lose the way we did the last two games.”
Rubio, 30, arrived in Minnesota this past offseason for his second stint with the team after playing the first six seasons of his NBA career with them. The T-Wolves have a completely new group now though, as the only teammate left from Rubio’s first stint is Karl-Anthony Towns, who did not play in either of the blowouts due to a dislocated wrist.
The Timberwolves did win their first two games of the season, so they are still 2-2 despite the rough patch. But Rubio is far from the first veteran to call out the team for cultural issues.
Photo: Joe Bielawa/Flickr via CC-BY 2.0
