Top 3 Cavs players after Pelicans loss includes Ricky Rubio despite his injury

The Cavs loss of Ricky Rubio was far worse than their loss to the Pelicans

The Cavs blew a fourth-quarter lead to the Pelicans and ended up falling 108-104 in a heartbreaking loss. The collapse wasn’t the worst part about it, as the team not only lost the game but may have lost sparkplug dynamo, Ricky Rubio, for some time; if not the rest of the year with a feared knee injury.

The injury came in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter as Rubio drove to the basket, pivoted onto his right leg which appeared to buckle, causing Rubio to plant probably too fast onto his left leg; where the injury happened. Rubio couldn’t put pressure on his left leg as his teammates helped him to the back. The loss of Rubio can’t be stressed enough but we’re going to talk more about that in a separate article going up on Wednesday.

While there is a somber tone over the Cavs today, it can’t be stressed enough how good Kevin Love and Evan Mobley looked as the short-handed Cavs did their best to defeat the short-handed Pelicans. There is still a silver lining to the grey cloud following last night’s loss.

The three best from Tuesday’s heartbreaker against the Pelicans

The Best Three Performers

1. Evan Mobley
2. Kevin Love
3. Ricky Rubio

The first name to get their points is Evan Mobley, who earned one point from the contest against the Pelicans. He had 22 points and seven rebounds but his defense, or lack thereof, was a key reason why the Pelicans were able to mount a comeback through Herbert Jones, who attacked the basket often. That’s part of the reason why he had a team-worst box+/- of -8. That hurt his standing.

Kevin Love gets the two points for going 7-12 from three-point land, and nailing two three-pointers in the final minute of the game, helping keep the Cavs in it late after the Rubio injury. Love finished with 24 points on the night.

Lastly, Ricky Rubio gets the three-point performance, finishing with a near triple-double of 27 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists.

Yearly Standing:

1. Jarrett Allen (34 points)
2. Darius Garland (33 points)
3. Ricky Rubio (32points)
4. Kevin Love (25 points)
5. Cedi Osman (23 points)
6. Lauri Markkanen (22 points)
7. Evan Mobley (15 points)
8. Dean Wade (5 Points)
9. Isaac Okoro (4 points)
10. Dylan Windler (1 point)