Suns coach ‘ticked’ wet Staples Center floor hurt Ricky Rubio vs. Lakers
Jan 3, 2020, 12:42 PM
Phoenix Suns' Ricky Rubio (11) keeps the ball away from Los Angeles Lakers' Anthony Davis (3) and LeBron James (23) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
(AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)
Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams was not pleased that point guard Ricky Rubio injured his hip on a non-contact injury Wednesday. Against the Los Angeles Lakers, it appeared Rubio fell down on a wet Staples Center floor.
Rubio went through shootaround and is probable to play two days later against the New York Knicks on Friday night. But Williams said after shootaround that he believed Rubio’s injury could have been avoided.
“I was a little ticked off at the lack of ability to go clean that spot up where Anthony (Davis) fell,” Williams told reporters. “That’s on the home team to do that. It could cost a guy a season. That’s something that the league has to do a better job of enforcing.
“That bothered me a little bit that they did not clean that spot up. For it to be that wet meant there was a lot of sweat on the floor.”
Replays of the game showed that Davis fell down in the same spot that Rubio slipped on. While the play went to the other side of the court, the ball came back the other way just more than 10 seconds later. That’s when Rubio attempt to deny a pass but went down as his man cut behind him.
Sweaty Anthony Davis slides all over the floor & what happens to Ricky Rubio on the very next play?
I get it's mostly kids/volunteers (?) but what are we training them to do? What if that was LeBron on a drive? pic.twitter.com/SMhfJ6ZJjW
— David Kevin (@theIVpointplay) January 2, 2020
Rubio is averaging 13.9 points and 9.3 assists per game this year, the latter of which is second-best in the NBA.
This month, his numbers have inflated to 14.9 points and 10.6 assists per game.
Kellan Olson contributed to this story.
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