Russell Westbrook came up with three consecutive triple doubles for the Oklahoma City Thunder last week to official etch himself in the company of three other elites who registered at least 100 triple doubles during their NBA career.
We dug up some key numbers on the stat sheet filling triple doubles of Westbrook to share to you:
3 more to go: The only other three people who are on this 100 triple double list are Oscar Robertson (181), Magic Johnson (138) and Jason Kidd (107). Westbrook should be taking over third place in the next few games. Barring any major injury or line-up changes, he should pass Magic sometime in the next three years. Considering the next fact we are going to present, he might not be far from breaking the Big O’s all-time record;
63: This is the amount of triple doubles Westbrook had after his partnership with Kevin Durant, spanning to less than two years. His other 37 came during a span of eight seasons with Durant, including just 8 in the first six seasons.
42: This was his NBA record-setting, MVP-winning performance last year. In registering 42 triple doubles during the 2016-17 season, he broke the 41 established by Robertson during the 1961-62 season. Robertson’s record stood for 55 years until the post-Durant Westbrook came along.
100% completion rate: Westbrook recorded a triple-double against all the other 29 teams in the NBA. The Philadelphia 76ers account for 6 of them, the most ever allowed by an opponent. Houston, Indiana, New Orleans, Orlando, Sacramento, and Utah came in next with five each, while Dallas, Denver, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New York, Phoenix, Washington, and Atlanta, the latest victim, allowed four each.
82%: The winning percentage of the Thunder whenever Westbrook records a triple double. Oklahoma City won a staggering 82 of the 100 Westbrook triple double games. According to NBA.com, “since Westbrook entered the league in 2008-09, the Thunder have gone 482-310 overall (.609). If you take away Westbrook’s 100 triple-double games, the Thunder have gone 400-292 (.578) since he was drafted”.
-4.94: The point differential during wins and losses. In the 82 wins, Westbrook averaged 26 points a game. Those games include his top three, a 57 in Orlando last March, 2017; a 51 at home against Phoenix in October, 2016; and a 50 at Denver last April, 2017. In contrast, he averaged 30.94 in their 12 losses.
+.78: The assist differential during wins and losses. In the 82 wins, Westbrook averaged 12.78 assists a game. It includes his top six, a 22 against Phoenix at home in December, 2017; 19 at Brooklyn this March and against the Clippers in March 2017, and 17 on three separate occasions. In contrast his average dipped slightly to 12 during the losses.
19: The highest rebound total he had. It happened in February, 2016 in a game against Orlando at home. He also had a 18 against the Lakers at home in February, 2017 and 17 during seven different occasions.
17-18-17: If I had to pick the best among the 100, I would go with this one. He scored 17 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and dished 17 assists in just 35 minutes against the Lakers at home last February 24, 2017.
I chose this because it shows what the overall value of a triple double should be.
His lack of points that night was not due to lack of trying. It was that his shot was not falling. He still took a modest 18 attempts from the field, converting just 4 of them, including 1 of 5 from three-point land. He also had 6 turnovers.
He, however, was pretty useful in the other aspects of a game. He was 8 of 9 from the free-throw line and had 3 steals. The Thunder were up by 19 during the time he was on the floor.
By: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS, stats from NBA.com.
