It’s not just what he’s doing, it’s how he’s doing it. Russell Westbrook has been bantering with the NBA record books the past two seasons, eclipsing decades-old numbers and giving fans the type of show that they’ll tell their children about. But tonight, the number that he sauntered over is a bit more meaningful.
It’s the number 19.
With a 21-point, 12-assist, 11-round performance in a 96-86 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night, the halfway point of the 82-game season, Westbrook recorded his 19th triple-double of the season, the most since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976. That is one more than his total from all of last season when he matched Magic Johnson’s 1981/82 season.
“He has a chance to touch so many facets of the game and he can impact the game in a lot of different areas,” Thunder head coach Billy Donovan explained. “I’ll never take for granted how hard he competes and plays every night and then his desire, competitiveness to want to win and compete every night. His talent and his ability gets showcased with his scoring, rebounding and assists.”
Only two names stand in front of Westbrook with regard to triple-double history — Wilt Chamberlain (31, 1973/74) and Oscar Robertson (41, 1961/62). Westbrook is now transcending generations, and even leagues, competing with players in an era of NBA and ABA basketball that was so far removed, so much faster paced and frankly, so bereft of equal talent in comparison to the current NBA landscape. Westbrook and his Thunder teammates have grinded out victories, 24 to be exact, putting the team on a 48-win pace at the mid-point of the season.
Do“He’s doing it on a winning team. He’s having fun, he’s making everyone else better around him,” center Enes Kanter said of Westbrook. “That’s what a special player does.”
In the midst of that winning basketball, and likely a byproduct of that effort and mentality, the triple-doubles are piling up. The Thunder are now 15-4 when Westbrook records a triple-double, evidence that when the perennial All-Star is firing on all cylinders and when his teammates are finishing shots, boxing out, setting screens and getting defensive stops to spring fast breaks, the team as a whole succeeds. Westbrook, as the leader of the team, is acutely aware of the impact his teammates have on the personal numbers he’s racked up as a part of the Thunder’s winning formula.
“It’s something that I personally don’t take for granted,” Westbrook said. “Those guys sacrifice their bodies to get me open and get guys open on screen and rolls.”
A student of the game, motivated solely by the win column, Westbrook is diligent, prepared and focused on putting his team in the best position to succeed each night. Oftentimes that coincides with the skills he personally can provide to impact winning.
On offense, his ability to post up smaller players, rise above his defender at the elbow or attack the paint in transition and in the halfcourt, propels him to 40-point scoring nights. He’s had six such games this year, including one game where he scored 54.
In-between scoring barrages, Westbrook is picking out his teammates for easy baskets – and he makes sure to spread the wealth. Nine teammates average at least five points per game, including three in Victor Oladipo, Steven Adams and Kanter who are each in double figures. Westbrook finds those teammates mostly in pick-and-roll situations, carving up the defense to generate double teams and rotations that lead to wide open catch-and-finish shots.
“I just read the game,” Westbrook explained. “You have to read it, make plays, take what the defense gives you and play that way.”
The rebounding is the most challenging of the three aspects of the game for a point guard, so it’s remarkable how easily Westbrook makes it seem. Part of it is his job – when he snares defensive rebounds it eliminates an outlet pass, putting the Thunder’s fast break into hyperdrive. Even when the Thunder bigs are locked up with their man, boxing them out in lieu of jumping out towards the ball, Westbrook still has to have the anticipation, recognition of angle, space and velocity to hunt down those loose caroms off the glass.
For the season, Westbrook is averaging a league-best 31.0 points to go with 10.7 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game. If he continues on this torrid pace, he’ll have the chance to be the first player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson in the 1961/62 season. Every time Westbrook peels back one layer of history, he has the chance to dig a little deeper. Given his natural relentlessness, don’t be surprised to see Westbrook topple some other marks before the year is done.
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