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Russell Westbrook Triple-Double Watch: Game 30, at Boston
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 31.3 points, 10.8 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.
“I’m able to do different things that other people may not be able to do.”
Well, sure, TV’s Russell Westbrook. That’s sort of been your thing all season.
For a team that so desperately relies on one superstar, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s allotment of just 35 minutes a contest to Russell Westbrook seems relatively slim. In years past do-everything types like Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and especially Michael Jordan had to routinely top 40 minutes a game in order to both keep their teams afloat and, in a happy happenstance for fantasy league owners, their stats at a No. 1 pick’s level.
Westbrook’s statistics, as relayed above, are just fine. His Thunder aren’t putting too much fear into the Warriors and Cavaliers at this point, but absolutely nobody wants to stare down the 17-12 squad in a playoff series.
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Still, Westbrook isn’t even ranked in the top-ten in minutes per contest. LeBron James, famed avatar of the “let’s sit this one out, I’ve got to make it until June”-ethos, is actually ranked fourth overall in minutes per game after a 39-minutes per game (thus far) December.
Westbrook, however, hasn’t taken any games off in 2016-17. And though Friday evening’s game in Boston is a must-win for a team still trying to swim with the sharks in the West, the NBA TV-broadcast feature pits the Thunder against an odd but unavoidable scheduling quirk – in New Orleans on Wednesday, out to Boston for Friday, back to OKC for a nationally televised game against Minnesota on Sunday.
Russell would seem fit to perhaps sit out the middle contest, by some at least, so as to avoid chasing around Isaiah Thomas’ ability to drop 35 in an instant. Westbrook, however, has yet to take a game off this season, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Oklahoman beat writer Erik Horne, in detailing the thought process in place for Thunder coach Billy Donovan:
Along with the Thunder staff, Donovan relies on Catapult GPS data – which tracks everything from distance traveled to acceleration and deceleration force – to help determine player workloads in practice. While Donovan jokes that he has to be explained the scientific parts, it’s something he takes seriously.
Donovan said through 28 games he’s thinking about cumulative effect, say over a two- to three-week span.
Westbrook, as you’d expect, declined the offer of an electric blanket:
“That’s why I take pride in getting my rest, take pride in staying loyal to the craft and things that you’re able to do, especially in the offseason, to prepare yourself for the season,” Westbrook said. “In the summertime I prepare myself to come into the season and make sure I’m in the best shape as possible. I’m able to do different things that other people may not be able to do.”
This is hardly a shot at James, mind you.
Russell Westbrook has played 82 playoff games in his career, co-incidentally the number of games in an NBA regular season (a mark Westbrook has hit four times in his career, including playing the full slate of 66 games in 2011-12), and that’s a hefty total for someone who just turned 28.
Still, he played just two due to injury in 2013 and missed out on the 2015 playoffs when the Thunder did not qualify. Nothing near someone like James, who is staring down his seventh consecutive trip to the Finals – a record, since they started calling it the “Finals” in the 1980s.
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This is a long way of saying we shouldn’t expect to see Westbrook sit any time soon. His role is closer to that of LeBron James’ in the mid-2000s, when LeBron had to carry a lacking Cleveland Cavaliers team. Russell’s Thunder is clearly better than the Eric Snow-helmed Cavaliers, but that guarantees absolutely nothing in the West these days.
The Thunder need that Boston win. And the Timberwolves win on Christmas, if you wouldn’t mind.
Westbrook contributed 37 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, two steals and seven turnovers in the team’s first contest against the Celtics, a 99-96 win. He is in no danger of losing his triple-double and/or 30-point averages with a poor game.
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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!
