Tonight Russell Westbrook notched his 174th career triple double as he led the Washington Wizards in scoring (37 points), rebounds (11), and assists (11) in a 129-109 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Per Stat Muse, Westbrook has notched 10 triple doubles in his last 11 games, averaging 23/14/13 on 46 FG% (he was one assist short of a triple double in the other game) as the Wizards went 9-2 to vault into contention for one of the play-in games. Westbrook is averaging a triple double for the fourth time in the past five seasons (Oscar Robertson is the only other player in pro basketball history to accomplish that feat even once) while on pace to set career-highs in rebounding and assists. The two-time assists champion is also currently leading the league in assists. If Westbrook captures a third assist crown he will tie Rajon Rondo on the all-time list, and trail only John Stockton (nine assist titles), Bob Cousy (eight), Robertson (six), Jason Kidd (five), Steve Nash (five), Magic Johnson (four), Chris Paul (four), and Kevin Porter (four). Remember when the critics said that Westbrook was a selfish gunner who could never be an elite NBA point guard or playmaker?
Oscar Robertson has held the career triple double record for well over 40 years. Until Westbrook, no player came close to matching Robertson's total of 181 triple doubles; the distance between Robertson and Magic Johnson--who was second on the career list for over 20 years before Westbrook surpassed him--was 43 triple doubles, which would rank 10th all-time! Westbrook has nearly as many career triple doubles as LeBron James (99) and Wilt Chamberlain (77) combined. James and Chamberlain rank fifth and sixth all-time respectively. The Wizards have 13 remaining games, so Westbrook "only" has to have a triple double in seven of them to tie a record that seemed unbreakable for most of pro basketball history.
If triple doubles matter--and we have been told for decades that they do--then Westbrook is indisputably one of the greatest all-around players of all-time. It does not make sense to act like only Westbrook's triple doubles are meaningless or "stat padding."
Westbrook did not make the 2021 All-Star team, and it does not appear that he will receive much consideration for the All-NBA Team, let alone the MVP award. Someone objectively looking back on this season 20 years from now will be puzzled that a former MVP who led the league in assists while averaging a triple double and (possibly) setting the career triple double record was completely ignored in the awards voting. The MVP selection criteria are not consistently applied, to say the least. Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors are struggling to qualify for the play-in games in the Western Conference but he has proclaimed himself to be the MVP and many media members agree that he should at least be in the top five, if not the top three. It sure would be interesting if Westbrook and Curry faced each other head to head right now while Curry is on a record-setting scoring streak and Westbrook is on a record-setting triple double streak. Oh, wait--they did face each other. Let's look at the statistics:
Wizards 118, Warriors 114
Westbrook 14 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, 5-17 field goal shooting, nine turnovers +9
Curry 18 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, 7-25 field goal shooting, six turnovers, -21
Westbrook was the primary defender on Curry. Neither player shot well, but Westbrook can impact the game in multiple ways even if he does not shoot well, and by holding the league's hottest shooter to 18 points on .280 field goal shooting Westbrook would have been the player of the game even if he had not rebounded like Wilt Chamberlain while passing like Magic Johnson.
Nikola Jokic or Giannis Antetokounmpo should win the MVP award this season, as they have been the two most productive and consistent players, and both of their teams rank near the top of their conferences. That being said, if Curry is going to be praised for scoring a lot of points for a mediocre team that may not even qualify for the play-in games then Westbrook should get an equal amount of praise for racking up triple doubles for a similarly situated team.
That's the article: Westbrook is Within Reach of the Career Triple Double Record
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