Ricky Rubio and an emotional return with the national team: "The love for basketball has always been there"

Permanently, Ricky kept a serious face. During the long warm-up, during the presentations. It was not broken even by the emotional ovation of Prince Felipe, packed to the brim for the occasion, given to the protagonist. The gesture of concentration was absolute, as if he wanted to internalize the entire essence of a day so as not to forget. More than 300 days had passed (the playoffs with the Cavaliers) since the last time on a court, six and a half months since his abrupt goodbye to basketball to take care of his mental health and more than two and a half years since he last played. the red shirt of his beloved team. I was going to leave the phrase of the night later, a reflection that is much more: “There is nothing like playing a basketball game.”

Ricky started as a starter and showed his lack of rhythm and touch. That last time everything went in, 38 points for the USA Team in Saitama at the Tokyo Games. Against the intense and tough Latvians, the shots fell short, there was a lack of wrist, feeling. So the point guard chose to spread joy, connect with his teammates, passes looking down the line, Jaime Pradilla as the main beneficiary of his genius. He spoke with the young pivot after finishing the first half, lessons that are priceless.

Upon returning from the locker room, Ricky continued failing (he finished with a two-of-11 shooting) and distributing assists. And, with 4:52 left (he was going to be on the court for more than 20 minutes), when Spain could not complete its comeback, Scariolo returned him to the court. Then, as he had always done, the new Barça player took responsibility, for better and for worse.. Nine of his 11 points came in that stretch, the first basket, the first triple. He was one step away from the feat, forcing an attacking foul that lifted Prince Philip, but Lomasz had the cruel response on the return. He even missed three free throws in that final abyss. The defeat was almost the least of it. Victory was his return.

“I have felt good, almost like a 'rookie', with a lot of nerves, but in the end it is basketball, it is like learning to ride a bicycle again. It's going to cost, but I'm happy. The love of basketball has always been there, it got a little darker and now we have to dust it off to enjoy it again,” he explained in his brief appearance in the mixed zone.. “You can do whatever you want on the treadmill, run whatever you want to stay in shape, but nothing imitates playing a basketball game. We'll see how we wake up tomorrow after so much time,” he confessed in Catalan, looking at the new opportunity. , on Sunday in Charleroi against Belgium. And the next one, next week against Monaco in the Euroleague, already as a Barça player.

“I have seen Ricky as in training, with will, serenity and wanting to do things well but still with a significant lack of rhythm that he can achieve by competing and playing. This is a very good first step to return to club competition and then for what we will have in the summer,” said Scariolo, who praised “his instinct and his spark.”