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Russell Westbrook Triple-Double Watch: Game 27, versus the Phoenix Suns
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook is threatening to become the first NBA player to average a triple-double since Cincinnati Royals Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson achieved the double-figure points, assists and rebounds mark during the 1961-62 NBA season. A lot has changed in the league since then, which is why Westbrook’s current averages of 30.5 points, 10.6 assists and 10.5 rebounds would make such a feat a remarkable achievement in line with some of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history. If not the greatest individual season in NBA history.
As Westbrook takes on each new opponent while the OKC season drawls on, we’ll be updating his chances at matching the Big O’s feat.
Russell Westbrook would like us to stop talking about triple-doubles.
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This is tough news to hear, with four months remaining on our Russell Westbrook Watch. A tough pill to swallow with 55 games left. A tough page to fill, now that Westbrook wants us paying attention to … well, anything besides his attempt to notch double-figure averages over the course of an 82-game NBA season.
If you missed his thoughts on the subject, following Wednesday’s loss to the Jazz, let’s remind you:
“Honestly, man, people and this triple-double thing is kind of getting on my nerves, really,” Westbrook said after a 109-89 loss to the Jazz at Vivint Smart Home Arena. “People think if I don’t get it, it’s like a big thing. When I do get it, it’s a thing. If y’all just let me play – if I get it, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t care. It is what it is. I really don’t care. For the hundredth time. I don’t care. All I care about is winning, honestly. All the numbers s*** don’t mean nothing to me.”
Well, they mean something to us, dammit.
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Because we’ve been forbidden from spending too much time discussing Westbrook’s attempts at a major feat, we’ll fall back on what really counts.
Because his Oklahoma City Thunder will play the lowly Phoenix Suns in an anonymous December game caught in the late afternoon on a Saturday – with NCAA basketball and NCAA football bowls bashing away elsewhere – there is little left to fall on.
Which is where The Exception comes in.
The website recently ran a photo essay entitled “10 Ways Russell Westbrook Certainly Was a Party Animal,” and we couldn’t encourage you enough to click over there and spend some time looking at all the ways Russell Westbrook (be he shirtless, playing basketball, or dressed like Joe Dirt) knows how to act, like the animal in question:
Westbrook should cheer up in the face of the Suns, working with the NBA’s 24th-ranked defense. In one of his best games of the 2016-17 campaign, Westbrook notched 51 points (a season-high for Westbrook, and the third-most points scored in an NBA contest this year), 13 rebounds, 10 assists, two steals and five turnovers against the Suns on Oct. 28.
He is in no danger of dropping out of triple-double averages with a third-straight failure to achieve a triple-double against Phoenix. We’re not sure how much we’re allowed to speak about these sorts of things, though. Perhaps another gnarly stat line will brighten Russell’s (and our) prospects.
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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
