Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. I write about what’s happening in the NBA daily, even when COVID has ravaged the league.
Russell Westbrook breaks Oscar Robertson’s for most career triple-doubles.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Margot/AP.)
I feel like I’ve run out of adjectives to describe Russell Westbrook and what he did.
I’m featuring him because what Russ did supercedes one regular season loss. Russell Westbrook now has 182 career triple-doubles. That is now the MOST in NBA history as he passed the great Oscar Robertson on Monday night.
Everything about this is remarkable. He would end with yet another incredible line at 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 21 assists. Another 20-20 game for Russ. It’s his 36th triple-double of the season. By the way, he didn’t even start racking up triple-doubles on the regular until the 2014-15 season. If you can believe it, Russ only had 8 triple-doubles from 2008 (when he came into the league) to 2014. He got 11 in a year when then-teammate Kevin Durant got hurt for most of 2014-15. Then he went and got 18 in 2015-16. Finally, he did everything in 2016-17 when Durant left as he got his first of multiple triple-double seasons (also mentioned to be impossible as it had only been done ONCE; he’s about to do it a FOURTH time) and broke the record for most triple-doubles in a season with 42.
He’d follow that campaign with 25 more in 2018. Then 34 in 2019. Russ would only get 8 in 2020 as he shared the court with James Harden. And then he got dealt to Washington where he had to do it all again. As I mentioned, he just got his 36th triple-double this season.
I mean, the guy is 32 years old. His motor never seems to run out. And it’s not like he’s a big guy relative to the league; he’s a 6’3″ guard and averaging just under TWELVE REBOUNDS. You can mention all the reasons how Russ gets his triple-double but the fact of the matter is that everyone likes to statpad. And it’s easy for Russ’s teammates to just go ahead and claim the rebound for themselves. Players still have to go after the ball, ya know.
No matter what, this is an incredible achievement by Russell. It does seem a bit more possible that players can break this down the line as triple-doubles get “easier.”
But Russell Westbrook isn’t done yet. Not by a long shot. And if you think Russell can’t rack this up to maybe 250 triple-doubles, all Russ has to ask is… why not?
Bullet Passes
Yeah, the Hawks won the game as Westbrook actually missed the game-winning three. They pull to within half a game of the New York Knicks.
I was so confused when Twitter was calling Jordan Clarkson, Michael Jordan Clarkson. Well, he did score 41 points for Utah. But Stephen Curry made the go-ahead three with 14.5 seconds left to give the Warriors a guaranteed spot at the play-in.
Curry scored 36 points to increase his lead on Bradley Beal for the scoring title.
The Pelicans really needed that win to stay alive. But I mean, Memphis has to protect a spot, too.
Little-used guard Kelan Martin scored a career-high 25 points to help the Pacers take back the 9th spot after the Wizards loss. Also, Domantas Sabonis got close to a trip-dub with 21-20-9. Geez, we’re not paying enough attention to the younger Sabonis.
The Blazers won to boost their lead to 1.5 games over the Lakers. Time is running out for the Lakers to get to the 6th spot.
The Spurs did win to snuff out Milwaukee‘s winning streak. However, look at the play below the scoreboard…
NBA Scoreboard
May 10, 2021
Watch This Play
Giannis Antetokounmpo decided he can dunk on THREE Spurs.
Giannis just dunked on three Spurs 😳 pic.twitter.com/O95XoI5Fzy
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 11, 2021
You might want to call that a little… freakish.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.
R.I.P. Nala.