NBA: Charlotte Hornets – Cleveland Cavaliers

Let’s go with a game tonight in the NBA, a game between two teams with quite different positions in the table.

It is impossible for the Charlotte Hornets to qualify for the PLay-in, so their matches between now and the end of the season are pure formality, beyond the personal fulfillment of the players. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers still have to seal their place in the Playoffs among the first four, something that they do not have too complicated, but that they still have to certify, given that the Nets and Knicks are pressing from behind.

Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers’ most important player, is out

Focusing on Ricky Rubio, the loss of Donovan Mitchell should be very important in terms of his role on the team, since they occupy outside positions and Mitchell averages almost 36 minutes of play. However, we are facing a different case today, since Ricky Rubio has returned relatively recently from a very hard and long injury, in an already quite veteran stage of his career. The priority for both Rubio and the Cavaliers seems clear, and that is for Ricky to remain in those 20 minutes played between now and the end of the season, hoping that Ricky will contribute minutes of experience in the post-season.

It has already coincided on 4 occasions that Ricky Rubio played without Donovan Mitchell available, and on those 4 occasions Ricky has averaged 16 minutes of play, with 6 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds per game. Not much different from his usual numbers this season, in which he averages 17 minutes in which he achieves 5.5 points, 3.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game. The line that convinces me the most is that of points and rebounds, since he has only surpassed it this season in 3 of 22 games played, while he has not surpassed it in the previous 4 games played without Mitchell.

Odds are correct at time of publication, 21:55 – 03/14/2023, and are subject to change

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