Cleveland Cavaliers guard Ricky Rubio shared his thoughts on Cleveland’s first-round series against the New York Knicks on Thursday.
“If you ask anyone in our locker room, we were a better team than the Knicks,” Rubio said, via Right Down Euclid Editor-in-Chief Evan Dammarell. “Were they more talented than us? No. They just wanted it more than we did.”
Rubio played in three games of the Cavs’ playoff series against New York, earning as many as just over six minutes in a Game 4 loss at Madison Square Garden. He dished two assists and grabbed two rebounds in his limited time at the Garden on Sunday.
Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell, who played with the Spanish guard on the Utah Jazz during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, gave credit where it was due to Rubio ahead of Game 5 with the Knicks on Wednesday.
“I gotta be the guy to continue to use my voice, but listen as well, and not be too naive to listen to what’s going on. Who really helped me with that is Ricky Rubio,” Mitchell said, via Yahoo! Sports Senior NBA reporter Jake Fischer. “It’s great that he’s here, so I can lean on him, for my mental as well, so he can kind of talk about our past experiences and help steady this group.”
Ricky Rubio gave an honest assessment of the Cavs’ mentality coming out of the All-Star break following a 136-119 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in February, one that saw the 32-year-old guard dish two assists and grab two steals in State Farm Arena.
“We came out of All-Star break and this is where you start turning it on for the playoffs,” said Rubio, via Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor. “It’s something we have to figure out sooner than later. Last night we played a really good game. Tonight, was one of the worst performances of the season.”