Rubio Records 4th Triple-Double of Career, 1st of Season

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio continued his recent stretch of excellent play in Monday's 110-105 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, recording the fourth triple-double of his career and his first of the 2014-15 season, per the Timberwolves' PR Twitter account.

While arguably outdueled by Clippers guard Chris Paul, Rubio impressively finished Monday's game with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists over 40 minutes, with a steal and only two turnovers.

Paul didn't get a triple-double, but he did manage 26 points, four rebounds, 14 assists and three steals in 37 minutes, making 60 percent of his field-goal attempts and only turning the ball over once.

Rubio was somewhat less efficient from the field, converting five of his 11 (45.5 percent) field-goal attempts, though he did make seven of his nine (77.8 percent) free throws.

The Spanish point guard has only played 16 games this season, as a severely sprained left ankle held him out from Nov. 8 through the end of January.

Initially eased back into the mix with minutes in the low- to mid-20s, Rubio has been a stat-producing machine since the Timberwolves cut him loose.

He has logged 32 or more minutes in each of the last seven games, averaging 13.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 2.7 steals over 36.8 minutes in that stretch, albeit with 3.0 turnovers per game and a field-goal percentage of just 32.1.

While his scoring still leaves something to be desired, Rubio is an excellent bet to record his fifth career triple-double by the end of the season, playing for a T-Wolves squad that has been much improved since his return.

Rubio's four triple-doubles are already good for second most in franchise history, trailing only the 16 compiled by Kevin Garnett in a Timberwolves uniform, per basketball-reference.com's play index.