Last
season in earing league MVP honors for the 2016-17 National Basketball
Association campaign, perennial All-Star lead guard of the Oklahoma City
Thunder Russell Westbrook set a new single-season record with 42 triple-doubles,
surpassing the record of 41 by Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62
season, while also joining him as just the second player ever to average a
triple-double in a single-season. Coming into this season, Westbrook had 79
career triple-doubles, which is one more than the late Hall of Famer Wilt
Chamberlin’s 78. With his latest triple-double on Tuesday night, Westbrook made
even more NBA history.
With
his effort of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in leading the Thunder
(41-29) to a 119-107 win at the Atlanta Hawks (20-48), their fourth in a row,
Westbrook notched his 21st triple-double on the season and the 100th
of his career.
The
seven-time All-Star, who also garnered the 36th triple-double of his
career with scoring 30-plus points joined Robertson (181), fellow Hall of Famer
and current Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers
Earvin “Magic” Johnson (138) and future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd (107) as the
only players to garner 100 or more triple-doubles in their careers.
Westbrook
etched his name into the record books at the 2:38 mark of the fourth period
with his 10th carom of the night off a three-point miss by Hawks’
forward Taurean Prince.
“Oh
man, it’s a blessing man,” Westbrook said to FOX Sports Oklahoma’s Nick Gallo
after the win. “I give all thanks to the man above just for blessing me with
the ability to play basketball, to do something I love, and I’m just thankful
to be able to do it here in Oklahoma City man, with my teammates. And I’m just
happy I’m able to accomplish something like that.”
To
put into perspective what the No. 4 overall pick in the 2008 draft accomplished
on Tuesday night, Westbrook became the third fastest player in league history at
736 career games to record 100 triple-doubles. “Magic” Johnson was the second
fastest to 100 in 656 career games, with Robertson doing it in 277.
“The
group of guys that’s ahead are Hall of Famers,” he said. “I’m just happy to be
a part of the crew with those guys.”
To
many what Westbrook accomplished might be considered meaningless, but if you
look at the significance of what it means to the Thunder when he has double-figures
in points, rebounds, and assists, what the Long Beach, CA native did means
everything to his team.
The
Thunder is 82-18, an 82.0 winning percentage in the 100 times that Westbrook garners
a triple-double, including 16-5 this season. When he has not registered a
triple-double, the Thunder are 368-268, a 57.9 winning percentage.
What
this also is indicative of is that Westbrook night in and night out brings the
ability to not just score from the lead guard spot, and make plays for others,
but his ability to get rebounds ignite many fast break opportunities for the
Thunder, and we have seen on many occasions the last decade the kind of force
Westbrook can be in the open court.
What
it also does it give energy to his teammates and it makes them run with him in
the open court, as well as find ways to get open in the half court.
On
a night where the Thunder lost All-Star guard Paul George to an injury from taking
a hard fall from a foul in the third quarter that ended his night early and starting
center Steven Adams was out due to a left hip contusion, the Thunder needed
everything that Westbrook did on this night, especially his rebounding. His 12
boards were huge, because the Hawks out-rebounded the visitors 47-38 on the
night, including 13-9 on the offensive glass.
The
Thunder, who outscored the Hawks 65-41 in the second half after trailing 66-54
at intermission registered 27 assists on their 42 made field goals on the
evening, with again 12 of those assists coming from Westbrook. They also made
16 for 35 from three-point range, All-Star Carmelo Anthony going 6 for 11 from distance,
scoring 21 points. The Thunder also had 11 blocks; converted 15 Hawks
turnovers, nine of which were steals into 28 points and held them to 42.5 percent
shooting from the floor.
“What
it takes to do that on a night-in, night-out basis, the focus that you have to
have, the intensity that you have to play with,” Anthony said in reveling in
what Westbrook accomplished. “For me, being able to be a part of that, be
alongside him, it’s a special moment. It’s something that we should all appreciate,
moments like this, and appreciate what we have and who we have.”
What
the Thunder have is one of the true all-time great talents that possesses the
vision of “Magic” Johnson and Jason Kidd and the ability to create his own shot
like Robertson with the ability to rebound, with a great deal of athleticism, speed,
strength and power to leave defenders in his wake in the open court and half
court, with the will confidence and relentlessness to always keep putting
pressure on the defense.
“For
the young heads, you get an appreciation of what Oscar Robertson was,” NBATV
analyst Greg Anthony said on the early Wednesday morning edition of “Gametime.”
“Because
this is in essence what he did in his career, was able to go out and play at
this level. How hard that is to play every single night knowing your basically going
to lead your team in scoring, rebounding and assists if you want to have a
chance to win.”
Along
with that, he makes the opposition adjust to him and play the game on his terms
and not theirs, which is something Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer pointed
out after the loss.
“We
really wanted to show him a crowd, show him a lot of bodies,” he said about how
he wanted his players to defend the reigning league MVP. “When Carmelo started
hitting those threes, that hurt a lot, when he started teeing them up. Then you
feel a little hesitant to show a crowd, and Westbrook’s starting to get a
little more penetration, getting more the rim, getting to the free throw line
more. That’s why they’re a good team.”
On
Tuesday night, Westbrook made history recording the 100th
triple-double of his career, with No. 21 occurring this season. He put his team
on his back and was a big reason that they sit in the No. 4 spot in the tightly
evolving Western Conference.
In
a season that has consisted of injuries, the roller coaster in terms of wins
and losses early in the season, the Oklahoma City Thunder goals of at least
making it to the Western Conference Finals are right in front of them and that
is in large part due to the stellar play of Russell Westbrook III, who as NBATV
analyst Brent Barry pointed out that it is hard to fathom that no NBA coaching
staff has come up with a scheme to at least slow down him down as he is on the
verge of averaging a triple-double again for the second straight season.
“It’s
an incredible in terms of the stamina, and effort, and energy that Russell
Westbrook has used throughout the course of his career, but over the last two
seasons especially,” the two-time champion with the San Antonio Spurs in the
early 2000s said of the greatness of the former UCLA Bruin.
“So,
remarkable stuff, and hats off, and congrats to Russell on this individual accomplishment.”
Information, statistics, and quotations are
courtesy of 3/13/18 7:30 p.m. game Oklahoma City Thunder versus Atlanta Hawks
on FOX Sports Oklahoma with Brian Davis, Michael Cage and Nick Gallo; 3/14/18 3
p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Rachel Nichols, Zach Lowe, and
Jackie MacMullan; 3/14/18 2 a.m. edition of NBATV ‘s “Gametime,” presented by Kia
with Matt Winer, Greg Anthony and Brent Barry; www.nba.com/games/20180313/OKCATL#/recap/boxscore/matchup;
www.espn.com/nba/recap/matchup?gameid=400975753; www.espn.com/nba/player/stats/_/id/3468/russell-westbrook;
www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/okc/oklahoma-city-thunder;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Robertson
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