A player with boundless energy, Russell Westbrook pulled off the 182nd triple-double of his career against Atlanta, breaking the 47-year-old NBA record of legendary Oscar Robertson. An exceptional performance, even at a time when this statistical specificity tends to become commonplace.
At 32, the Wizards star still has a few good years ahead of him to carry his brand much higher. Especially since he succeeds in the matter of rare combinations, such as this recent “TD” with more than twenty assists and twenty rebounds against Indiana. It was only the third time that this had happened, after Wilt Chamberlain in 1968 and … himself already in 2019.
Above all, he shows impressive consistency, since even before the end of this exercise, he is already guaranteed to complete it with a triple-double average. And this, for the fourth time in his career (after 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019), when Robertson did it once … 59 years ago. An eternity, another NBA.
On a parquet floor, Westbrook is like a pinball ball: everywhere at the same time.
“He puts an energy in the rebound to go in the middle of the ‘big men’, he leaves there fatigue, because that means playing all the balls. It’s an incredible ‘cardio’. It is customary to cross the field. slaloming, avoiding guys, dribbling, at full speed … It corresponds, from circle to circle, to almost 30 m. And this effort, he repeats it often “, describes Jacques Monclar NBA consultant for BeIn Sports.
“A single player”
“He is an exceptional athlete, a dragster, but who also has a significant playing time and needs to be free. He is not in the division and therefore the number of triple-doubles he also comes from the”, he adds.
And sometimes, like pinball, it “tilts”.
Westbrook rushes in, shoots anyhow, loses an astronomical quantity of balloons, sometimes approaching … quadruple-double. Either because of a lack of lucidity – like the heart, the brain also needs oxygen – or because this affective has creaking nerves.
“Yes, he is capable of harvesting a match. So, we like him or not, but he is nonetheless a unique player”, Monclar insists.
But in this spring, it is the flamboyant Westbrook which carries the Wizards on the road to qualifying play-offs for the play-offs. His 22 triple-doubles in the last 26 meetings are proof of this.
“I hope we give him the recognition he deserves. It’s really huge what he does”, declared to The Athletic the former glory of the Lakers, Magic Johnson, 3rd in the historical standings (138), in response to detractors lambasting the uselessness of Westbrook’s performances.
In Oklahoma City (2008-2019) then Houston (2019-2020), he has indeed won no ring, but he has already played an NBA final, lost in 2012 with the Thunder against Miami.
“Incredible general level”
“I don’t care what they think, but I am amused by the fact that they find it useless. It was not useless when Robertson and Magic were doing it. When it’s me, they say it is. looks easy, but it’s not that easy to do “, he said recently.
For the fifth consecutive season, the bar of 100 triple-doubles has been crossed. At one week of its epilogue, 134 have been successful by 28 different basketball players. Another record broken (127) that says a lot about today’s NBA.
“The game, faster, means that there are more possessions, therefore more material for. The triple-double is obtained by the rhythm. The defenses are a little lax, so it also favors the stats”, explains Jacques Monclar.
“Then, we lock the players in a role less. Like Westbrook, LeBron James is also the embodiment of this versatility, to believe that he also drives the bus to go to the stadium”, he continues, specifying that many Europeans have this profile. “Nikola Jokic does a lot, he puts in points, he’s tall so he rebounds, and he has a talent, a reading of the game that makes him pass. ”
“Finally”, he concludes, “I think there have never been so many very strong players as there are now in the NBA. The overall level is quite incredible.”.
And despite this competition, Westbrook has 36 triple-doubles this season, far ahead of his first pursuer, Jokic (15), one of the favorites for the MVP trophy.
“I’m sure if everyone could do it, everyone would”, he stressed.
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