Ricky Rubio’s play points to winning ways in NBA postseason

OKLAHOMA CITY — A poised and productive Ricky Rubio has been smiling and laughing, masterfully running Utah’s offense in his matchup with Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.

Meanwhile, the reigning league MVP has been scowling, shoving, fouling, complaining and most of all — losing.

It’s fair to say Rubio has been more effective for the Jazz.

The Rubio-Westbrook matchup mirrors what is happening throughout the NBA playoffs: The team that gets the best point guard play usually wins.

Rubio’s all-around success has the Jazz on the brink of advancing. Utah has a 3-1 lead on the Thunder and can finish the series tonight in Oklahoma City.

He summed up his play after Game 2, saying “I did my job, looking for my teammates, and looking for my shot too when it was open. I just took what the game gave me and watched film and got better and we played as a team.” Maybe it is just that simple. Rubio is averaging 18.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8 assists per game against Oklahoma City, all well above his regular season numbers. The 27-year-old is in the first playoff series of his sevenyear career, yet he is playing like a seasoned veteran.

Westbrook and the Thunder have tried to throw Rubio off his game, maybe to a fault.

Westbrook has lost his focus at times. He is averaging 21.3 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.3 assists in the series, but he’s shooting just 37 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range.

Rubio went for a triple-double in a Game 3 victory, the first playoff tripledouble for the franchise since John Stockton had one in 2001.

Westbrook said he’d shut down Rubio in Game 4, but his efforts backfired — Rubio got more of Westbrook’s attention, and the Thunder weren’t as effective helping on Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Utah’s two best players. Westbrook was overly aggressive and had four fouls at halftime. The Jazz rolled 113-96. On Tuesday, he was fined $10,000 and assessed a postgame technical foul for initiating a confrontation with Gobert in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game.

Westbrook toned down the situation with Rubio after the game.

“It wasn’t about me or him,” he said. “Let’s get past that. We’re done with that.”