Utah Jazz-NOLA: Ricky Rubio, Rajon Rondo battle for dimes
By Ryan Aston
Pass-first point-men Ricky Rubio and Rajon Rondo square off as the Utah Jazz play host to the New Orleans Pelicans.
The New Orleans Pelicans’ Rajon Rondo had himself a game on December 27. In 30 minutes of play, the 31-year-old racked up a career-high 25 assists, leading NOLA to a 128-113 win over the Brooklyn Nets. Upon hearing about the performance, Rondo’s former coach Doc Rivers called Rondo’s passing skills Tom Brady-esque.
On Wednesday, he’ll face another of the league’s better quarterbacks in the Utah Jazz’s Ricky Rubio.
Recent success aside — Rubio is coming off a 16-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist night in a win over LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers — the season has been a mixed bag for the pass-first point-men.
If on/off numbers are to be believed, both players have been negatives on the floor for their teams. The Jazz are nearly 10 points per 100 possessions better when Rubio sits. Meanwhile, the Pels improve by four points/100 poss. when Rondo leaves the court.
From the outside looking in, both players seem like imperfect fits for their respective rosters. The Jazz, in particular, have difficulty spacing the floor when Rubio plays with Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors. However, Gobert remains out with a PCL sprain and bone bruise, so Rubio should continue to have more room to operate and find his teammates.
That said, this has been a tough matchup for Rubio historically.
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The Jazz floor general has been on the winning side in all four of their head to head meetings, but he’s been consistently outperformed by Rondo. The former All-Star is averaging nearly 15 points, 10.5 assists and 1.8 steals per contest and hitting just under 60 percent of his shots in those games.
Conversely, Rubio has hit on less than 30 percent of his shots against Rondo. That’s rough even by his standards and things were even worse when Utah and NOLA faced off on December 1. I that game, Rubio went 0-for-7 from the field and dished out just four assists.
The Jazz’s saving grace was Donovan Mitchell’s 41-point outburst. Mitchell will be asked to carry the load once again here, but if Rubio can buck the trend against Rondo, it will put the team in a great spot to stop the Pels once again.