MAKING HISTORY
Breaking down Russell Westbrook's historic streak of triple-doubles
Paul George didn't realize Russell Westbrook had roped him into a historic moment when he caught Westbrook's pass at the top of the arc with four minutes to go in the Thunder's win over the Trail Blazers on Monday. George swished the 3-point shot to give Westbrook his 10th assist of the night, securing his 10th straight triple-double. Down by his hips, Westbrook stuck out three fingers on his right hand and two on his left. He had just broken Wilt Chamberlain's record. “I thought he had it already,” George said after the game. “Russ usually has that (a triple-double) by first quarter.” Maybe not quite first quarter, but it was only the fifth time in Westbrook's historic triple-double streak that he hadn't clinched the statistical feat by the end of the third quarter.
Monday marked the first time in 10 games that Westbrook hadn't reached double-digit assists before the fourth. He didn't need to be aware of his stat line to set the record. The Thunder's offensive adjustments at the turn of the year took care of it naturally. Postgame triple-double talk this season started just before the actual streak. Westbrook was already averaging double digits in points, rebounds and assists when he came one assist shy of a triple-double in New York on Jan. 21. The Thunder had such a dominant lead that he sat for the whole fourth quarter. After the game came one of his least favorite lines of questioning. “Were you aware that you were one assist away from another triple-double?” a reporter asked in the media scrum. “You know, it happens, night in night out,” Westbrook said, shrugging. “Would you have wanted to stay in for one more assist?” the reporter said. “Y'all want to talk about anything else?” Westbrook said. The next game, Westbrook recorded 14 assists in a 123-114 win over the Trail Blazers, and his triple-double streak began. “The things that Russ is doing out there,” veteran Thunder guard Raymond Felton said, “just leading this team on the court, getting triple-doubles, dicing the defense, sacrificing his game to make everybody better, I think a lot of people don't recognize that. Everybody wants to talk about shooting, and this and that, but they're not seeing what he's doing on the court.” Over the last 10 games, Westbrook is shooting just 39.4 percent from the field and 25.7 percent from beyond the arc. He's also leading the league in assists (13.8) and defensive rebounds (12). The Thunder, already with a strong transition offense, put an emphasis in January on improving its shot selection in the first six seconds of the shot clock. Suddenly, the Thunder was putting up its best shooting numbers all season as Westbrook took advantage of opportunities to grab defensive rebounds, drive to the basket in transition and kick passes out to teammates on the perimeter. Rebounds. Points. Assists. There were no more questions about coming back in the game late to record that last assist. In Miami, Westbrook recorded his 10th assist before halftime. Against Memphis, his scoring was the last to hit double digits. “I do know the most important thing to Russell is to win,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “That's what he's about. He wants to win. I think a lot of the things that he does, that he gets attention for in terms of the triple-doubles, are things that impact winning for our team.” According to George, Westbrook was the one who told him he was on the cusp of his own triple-double late in the fourth quarter Monday. Soon after, Westbrook drained a 3-pointer off a pass from George to give him the last assist he needed. “No pressure,” Westbrook said of that moment. “When it's time to do something for a teammate, for your brother, it's easy for me because I do that each and every night.”