longstrangetrip wrote:Mikkeman wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:Q12543 wrote:Abe, Mikkeman is citing the 4th quarter stats only. We were a different team with Rubio running the point.
Careful... that almost makes it seem like Rubio wasn't a detriment in the 4th quarter in 2014. Both players were atrocious. Barea was simply super duper bad instead of super bad.
Here's one set of stats: http://stats.nba.com/league/player/#!/clutch/advanced/?Season=2013-14&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&Period=4&TeamID=1610612750
Rubio had a NEGATIVE net rating of -30.2. Barea was worse at 33.3... in games decided by 5 points or fewer. That team completely shit the bed in the 4th quarter compared to the other 3 quarters enough times that it wasn't a fluke or small sample size. From Adelman's goofy rotations to Rubio going weeks without making a 4th quarter basket to Barea sucking balls to Love missing random bunnies and free throws to Pekovic missing damn near literally every last-second shot...
Sorry to nitpick... but Rubio was a HUGE reason for the Wolves failures down the stretch that season. Just because he wasn't alone in the ineptitude shouldn't get him off the hook.
Abe that same clutch stat shows that Rubio also had higher TS% than Love in last 5 minutes of 4th quarter when the score difference was less than 5 points. So if we are using just clutch stats (that are even more noisy since sample size is smaller) then we cannot point Ricky's inefficient scoring without pointing Love's even more inefficient scoring. Too bad that you cannot select whole 4th quarter and OTs for those clutch stats. It would give little bit more reliable sample size to make argument.
I agree that Rubio's started that year by playing awfully in 4th quarter but his 4th quarter play improved as season progressed. For example his 4th quarter net rating prior all star break was -7.4 but after that it was +2.7 but still Adelman played Barea at least half of the 4th quarter.
Let's hope that 4th quarter improvement for Ricky that you cite is a continuing trend, mikkeman, because it's clear to me that neither Love nor Rubio have been clutch 4th quarter players. It's interesting to me that the only clutch last second shots I can remember either of them making happened in that same game...that wonderful win in LA against the Clippers. We all remember Love's 3 to win the game in overtime, but somewhat forgotten is Rubio's corner 3 as regulation time expired to send the game into overtime. Even more amazing about Rubio's shot is he had missed all of his threes that game, I believe, and was having a terrible shooting game.
As I said before, we don't know yet if Ricky will ever be a clutch 4th quarter player, so we can only hope. Now that this team seems to have more offensive weapons than they have had in a long time, I think Ricky can become a very good 4th quarter player by playing disruptive defense and getting the ball to the right scorer at the right time.
Any discussion of Ricky vs. Barea in the 4th needs to consider both sides of the ball. When you take into consideration Barea's much worse defense, Adelman's decision to play JJ so much at crunch time becomes even more puzzling.
What I worry about Long, is that Rubio played terribly in these 4th quarters of games that meant something. That's about how teams are going to exploit Rubio if the Wolves make the playoffs. No doubt that teams play a different level when it comes to intensity and exploiting matchups during 4th quarters and playoffs rather then the 1st quarter of a November game, and for that test, not only did Rubio fail, he shit the bed.