Russell Westbrook scored 14 points, passed for 24 assists, and grabbed 21 rebounds as his Washington Wizards defeated the Indiana Pacers 154-141. Westbrook tied his single game career highs for both rebounds and assists. He also tied the record for most assists in a triple double performance, a mark originally set by Isiah Thomas in 1985 and subsequently matched by Rajon Rondo (2010) and Westbrook himself (2019). Westbrook's 178 career triple doubles place him just three shy of an Oscar Robertson record that for decades was thought to be unapproachable; no one imagined that anyone might surpass Robertson (the next closest player, Magic Johnson, finished his career with 138 triple doubles). The Wizards had 50 assists versus the Pacers, and they are the first team to have at least 50 assists in a game since 1990.
Racking up assists and rebounds used to be considered a great thing--and it still is when any player other than Westbrook does it. Teams that run up and down the court piling up points and assists are considered wonderful when led by Steve Nash or Stephen Curry, but somehow someone will figure out a way to devalue Westbrook's 24 assists and his team's 50 assists.
Every decade has at least one great player who is severely underrated. Julius Erving earned four straight All-NBA First Team selections in the 1980s, in 1981 he became the first non-center to win the NBA regular season MVP since Robertson (1964), and he was an All-NBA First Team performer for arguably the greatest single season team ever (1983 76ers, 12-1 in the playoffs--including a Finals sweep of the Magic Johnson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Lakers), but the revisionist history is that the 1980s began with Magic versus Bird and ended with the emergence of Michael Jordan. Erving's ABA years (including three regular season MVPs, two championships, two Finals MVPs, and three scoring titles) are relegated to an Orwellian-memory hole, and his NBA accomplishments are glossed over.
Then, in the 1990s Scottie Pippen was an All-NBA level performer for six championship teams and--although he was deservedly selected to the NBA's 50 Greatest Players List--both his contributions to those championship teams and his high level of play during other seasons are often diminished and disparaged.
In the 2000s, Kobe Bryant won five titles while elevating himself closer to Michael Jordan--in style and substance--than any other player since Jordan retired, but "stat gurus" and misinformed/biased media members refused to give Bryant the credit that he deserved.
In 2014, I predicted that Westbrook would inherit Bryant's dual role as best guard in the NBA and vastly underrated superstar. Like Erving and Bryant, Westbrook has won one NBA MVP--and, like Erving and Bryant, Westbrook is also subjected to criticism that most MVPs do not receive. That is not to say that Westbrook is as great as Erving or Pippen or Bryant--that is not the subject of this article--but rather just to say that (1) in each decade that I have followed the NBA there has been at least one great player who did not quite get the recognition that he is due, and (2) I enjoy telling the stories of those players with the hope that maybe the false narratives will one day be muted.
The Wizards are just a half game behind the Pacers in the Eastern Conference standings, and they now own the tiebreaker over the Pacers. The teams face each other again on Saturday, their final head to head matchup of this season. No NBA team has been hit harder by COVID-19 and other injuries/health concerns than the Wizards, but now that their squad is healthy--and now that Westbrook is posting huge triple doubles almost every game--they have won 13 of their last 16 games. Westbrook notched a triple double in 13 of those games, and the Wizards went 11-2 in those contests.
If Westbrook plays in all seven of the Wizards' remaining regular season games and posts no points, no rebounds, and no assists in each game he will still average a triple double for this season. Think about that for a moment: in a 72 game season, Westbrook has clinched a triple double average--a feat accomplished by only one other player in pro basketball history--with nearly 10% of the season left. The triple double was not officially tracked when Oscar Robertson set the career record with 181, but we have complete statistical information to confirm that--prior to Westbrook's emergence several years ago as the best all-around guard in the NBA--Robertson was the first player to average a triple double for an entire season (30.8 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 11.4 apg in 1961-62). Robertson also averaged an aggregate triple double over the first five seasons of his career. No other player came close to matching either accomplishment until Westbrook began his run five years ago. Westbrook is eight total rebounds short of averaging an aggregate triple double for the past five seasons, so if Westbrook plays all seven remaining games then he needs at least 78 rebounds to tie Robertson's record for maintaining a triple double average for half a decade.
Westbrook did not make the All-Star team this year. It seems doubtful that he will receive any MVP votes. It will be interesting to see if he gets any All-NBA consideration.
After the win over Indiana, Washington Coach Scott Brooks did not hesitate to offer his opinion about Westbrook's place in basketball history:
"Point guards don't do what he does. He's not normal; they're not built that way. There may be someone that probably shoots better. There might be someone that probably can do certain things better. But there's nobody in the history of the game that can do what he does throughout the stat sheet.
I used to always say he's going to probably go down as the third-best point guard ever, but I think he's passed one. He's going to go down as probably the second best, and [No. 1] is obviously Magic [Johnson]. He's underappreciated. What he does, there are no point guards ever done it, nobody."
I am disinclined to select one greatest player of all-time or one greatest point guard of all-time; I have a Pantheon of 14 all-time great players (Westbrook is not in that group), and I have compiled an updated 50 Greatest NBA Players List (Westbrook is in that group). Size--Specifically, Height--Matters in the NBA, which is why there is only one player shorter than 6-4 in my Pantheon (Jerry West), and why there are few players shorter than 6-4 on my 50 Greatest NBA Players List (Bob Cousy, Stephen Curry, Allen Iverson, John Stockton, Isiah Thomas, Jerry West, and Russell Westbrook).
Therefore, I am not quite ready to join Brooks and call Westbrook the second greatest point guard of all-time, but Brooks' larger point--that Westbrook is vastly underrated and underappreciated--is correct.
That's the article: Westbrook Clinches Season Triple Double Average With Record-Setting 14-24-21 Stat Line
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