When Ricky Rubio was out, Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders scaled back his playbook to a fraction of its typical offerings.

Now, Rubio is back after missing 43 games with a badly sprained left ankle, and Saunders is still not calling as many plays. He’s often leaving that decision to his starting point guard.

“As you can see, we are a much better team with Ricky on the floor,” Saunders said. “It’s a lot easier to coach. … He has a flow of the game.”

At the all-star break, the Wolves are 4-6 with Rubio and 7-36 without him. Minnesota (11-42) also has been without starters Nikola Pekovic and Kevin Martin for more than 30 games apiece, but Rubio is the conductor.

Rubio scored eight points in the final two minutes to will the Wolves to a surprising 90-89 comeback win over Memphis on Feb. 6.

Wednesday, Rubio had seven points, six rebounds and two assists during a furious fourth-quarter comeback that fell short in a 94-91 loss to Golden State.

“He’s what makes our car go,” Wolves forward Thaddeus Young said. “At any given moment, he can turn it on and push us through.”

The latitude Rubio is given at the controls comes from the aptitude he’s shown the coaching staff.

“His basketball intelligence is off the charts,” assistant coach Ryan Saunders said.

On game days, Rubio’s routine includes two film sessions with Ryan Saunders.

After the morning shoot-around, the session will focus on the Wolves’ defense and the opponent’s offensive sets. In the evening pregame, they will again watch that edited video and then clips on Rubio’s matchup in that night’s game.

“We will go over those things, so he can be another coach on the court,” Ryan Saunders said.

Each film session lasts about five to seven minutes and includes Rubio’s observations. Saunders and Rubio will go through it twice, but Saunders says Rubio retains the information after seeing it once.

“I try to learn what’s new every season,” Rubio said. “See what the other teams are doing for two reasons: one to (play) better defense and second of all to get something from them and put it on my offense.”

OFFENSIVE FREEDOM

Rubio is a self-described perfectionist. He has been irked by the amount of turnovers he’s committed after his nearly three-month layoff.

During his return, Rubio has wowed with no-look passes to teammates in stride, but he’s also thrown passes into the third row of the stands at Target Center.

He has averaged 5.6 assists and 3.6 turnovers in his five games since Feb. 2. In his four-year career, he has per-game averages of 8.1 assists and 2.9 turnovers.

Flip Saunders has called Rubio’s miscues “uncharacteristic,” and Rubio wants to continue to play a free-flowing style. He points to the success of passing-centric teams such as the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks.

“Everybody is moving and nobody is looking for one option,” Rubio said.

In the absence of Rubio, Martin and Pekovic, Saunders had to call a lot of plays for rookie Andrew Wiggins. With those three starters back in the fold, Wiggins has had to find his shots without as many sets directed at him.

Against Memphis, Saunders gave Rubio a directive to find Wiggins in the first quarter. Coming out of a Minnesota timeout, Wiggins scored nine straight points, with Rubio assisting on three of Wiggins’ four buckets.

At other times, Rubio will dribble up the court and touch his chest to signal to Saunders that he’s going to call that play.

“I will go with the freedom to make that (call),” Saunders said. “We have a pretty good idea about what we want to accomplish offensively, and what we want to exploit.”

Last season, former Wolves coach Rick Adelman ran the “corner offense,” and it often took the ball out of Rubio’s hands. Rubio would be asked to pass the ball to the elbows of the lane and go set picks so others could make plays.

This year, Saunders put the ball in Rubio’s hands at the outset of training camp in October.

Rubio had a stellar start in the season’s first five games, averaging 10 assists per game. Against Chicago on Nov. 1, he set a career high and tied a franchise-record with 17 assists.

The Wolves were 2-2 when Rubio sprained his ankle during the overtime loss to Orlando on Nov. 7.

‘SILVER LINING’

Poor shooting has been the biggest criticism of Rubio’s game. The often pass-first point guard is a career 37 percent field-goal shooter, including 33 percent from three-point range.

The Wolves addressed it during the offseason by hiring shooting coach Mike Penberthy to work with Rubio and other players. That hire was buoyed by a vote of confidence from Saunders early in training camp.

“I told him, ‘I want you to shoot it, and I don’t care if you miss it. You got to shoot it just so they honor you. I know you will make shots,’ ” Saunders said.

But the injury meant Rubio wasn’t able to shoot at all for awhile.

As his absence wore on, Saunders revealed in late January that Rubio’s injury was more than just a significant ankle sprain. Saunders said it included some ligament and muscle issues in his foot, a bone bruise and concerns that it could lead to a stress fracture.

Once Rubio returned to the practice court, though, Saunders said Penberthy was able to rework the guard’s shooting stroke. He now has a quicker release and the ball has more arc on its way to the basket. Saunders called it a “silver lining” of having to go without his point guard for so long.

Rubio, in turn, also has been calling his own number more this season.

In addition to the scoring spurt against Memphis, Rubio was willing to take two big shots in the final two minutes Wednesday against the Warriors.

He missed both, but through a small sample size of 10 games this season, he’s shooting career highs from the field (42 percent) and from deep (41 percent).

Martin has noticed Rubio shooting three-pointers in transition and looking to shoot when he comes off a pick and roll with the ball.

“When I first got here, it was hard to get him to take a shot wide open from the three,” Martin said. “That’s the kind of confidence you have to have.”

Follow Andy Greder at twitter.com/twolvesnow.