Ricky Rubio, the exciting rookie point guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves was injured with 16 seconds left in the team’s 105-102 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers after colliding with the Masked Mamba.
From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
Rubio’s knee buckled with 16.4 seconds left in the Timberwolves’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Friday night in Minneapolis. He came across to trap Kobe Bryant and crumbled to the floor as Bryant collided into him while trying to dribble. Rubio immediately grabbed his knee and remained on the floor for a few moments until teammates carried him to the bench.
http://youtu.be/CG0Lv5vbeR0
This is a crushing blow for a team that was finally becoming relevant for the first time since Kevin Garnett moved to Boston. Kevin Love emerged as a legit superstar last, but the 21 year old rookie from Spain was electric and had helped vault the team to a 21-19 record, holding the 8th seed in the West, after only winning 17 games all of last season.
Rubio was averaging 10.5 points, 8.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game.