Did Russell Westbrook Average a Triple Double Again
Marc Stein on Basketball
Russell Westbrook Makes Triple-Doubles Expect Like shooting fish in a barrel. They're Not.
Westbrook, the Washington Wizards guard, is on track to average a triple-double for the fourth time in v seasons, making information technology seem virtually routine. So why doesn't anybody do it?
Russell Westbrook and Scott Brooks huddled by telephone tardily Sunday. After the Washington Wizards' 8th consecutive victory, and with the second half of a dorsum-to-dorsum looming Monday night against San Antonio, Westbrook wanted to practice some extra strategizing with his omnibus.
It was simply a few months before that six consecutive Washington games were postponed because the Wizards had been ravaged by a coronavirus outbreak. Their U-turn has been so dramatic, with Westbrook's play reminiscent of his Oklahoma City best, that Brooks couldn't resist interrupting the serious tone past needling his star guard.
"I told him: 'You've got to start rebounding the brawl — simply five tonight?'" Brooks said. "Merely busting his chops."
Those five rebounds Westbrook managed in Sunday's victory over Cleveland, to get with 14 points and 11 assists in 36 minutes, were indeed an anomaly. In nine of his previous ten games, 13 of the previous 15 and 16 of the previous 20, Westbrook reached double figures in points, assists and rebounds.
In his first season as a Magician, at historic period 32, Westbrook is averaging 21.8 points, 11 rebounds and eleven assists per game — with a league-leading 29 triple-doubles to hike his career full to 175. Denver'south Nikola Jokic, with 15 triple-doubles, is his closest pursuer this flavor. With seven more than triple-doubles, Westbrook will pass Oscar Robertson as the Due north.B.A.'s career leader.
This is where it'due south of import to note that Westbrook, who is on a course to average more than x rebounds per game for the quaternary fourth dimension in five seasons, stands vi-pes-iii.
The official stance of this newsletter is that Westbrook's forthcoming accomplishment should be celebrated heartily, at the very least for his relentless rebounding at that size, but it's difficult to say how much fanfare awaits him when he eclipses the Big O. This isn't even a record that Robertson knew he set at the time, since the term "triple-double" didn't come into vogue until the 1980s.
Another tricky variable: In my 28 seasons of full-time N.B.A. reporting, Westbrook is correct there with Allen Iverson when it comes to the most polarizing players I have covered. Because of Westbrook'south ball-ascendant fashion, fickle jump shot, high turnover rate, occasionally short demeanor and, virtually of all, nix championships, it is frequently easier to detect his critics than his admirers.
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As Westbrook closes in on Robertson, there is as well a rising tendency to dismiss triple-doubles as empty calories because they happen and so frequently in the wide-open modern game. (Example: On March 17, Westbrook was one of six players to record a triple-double that twenty-four hours.) Westbrook's triple-doubles in particular tend to exist discounted in a way that others aren't, which he brought upwardly in a video session with reporters after Mon'south overtime loss to the Spurs.
"I think information technology's very interesting that information technology's not useful at present that I'm doing it," Westbrook said.
As covered in a recent piece past my colleague Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, there were only 18 triple-doubles leaguewide as recently as the 2011-12 regular season. This season's total has already topped 100, for the 5th season in a row, pointing to the various offensive advantages enjoyed in today's Northward.B.A. The faster pace of play creates more possessions, and thus more statistical opportunities, and restrictions on defenders accept been designed to promote more freedom of movement on offense. Players are as well encouraged to shoot 3-pointers at record rates, boosting scoring numbers and leading to more long rebounds. Old schoolers resistant to the 3-point revolution, in response, are prone to scoff at some of the gaudy stuff nosotros encounter in box scores these days.
Yet this is where I feel compelled to echo that part nigh Westbrook continuing just 6-3. He is the only actor in league history at that size or smaller to average at least ten rebounds a game over a total season.
"It's a lot harder at 6-iii," said Lafayette Lever, who went past the nickname Fat and clustered 43 triple-doubles from 1982-83 through 1993-94.
Lever understands Westbrook'south claiming besides as anyone. He was a 6-3, 170-pound baby-sit who rang up a league-leading 16 triple-doubles in 1986-87, ahead of both Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, and he didn't have Westbrook's explosion.
"Russell is and then much more able-bodied than I was at any point in time," Lever said in a telephone interview, "probably from the day he was born."
Lever, though, had an infrequent knack for rebounding, which he credited to playing on a high school team with no i taller than half dozen-3. He notwithstanding ranks 10th in career triple-doubles. It wasn't until Johnson joined the Lakers, five seasons after Robertson's retirement, that triple-doubles were seriously tracked and discussed, but among my N.B.A.-obsessed high school friends in the 1980s, we associated triple-doubles with Lever as much as with Magic or Bird, since he seemed similar such an unlikely source for them.
Lever accrued all 43 of his triple-doubles in a six-season bridge with the Denver Nuggets from 1984-85 to 1989-xc every bit i of the driving forces on a team that, similar Westbrook, wasn't ever appreciated. Detractors at the time took result with the freewheeling way those Nuggets played under Coach Doug Moe — and the wild scores and stats their games produced.
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Turbocharged statistical lines are a staple now in a league where 13 teams out of 30, inbound Tuesday'due south play, were attempting at least forty per centum of their shots from 3-point range. Cries of stat padding became commonplace in Westbrook's later years with the Thunder, and the hyper-awareness of triple-doubles — and a corresponding urge to chase them — is another perceived advantage for the Westbrook generation. Just Lever insisted that achieving the consistency of Westbrook'due south board piece of work is far harder than it looks.
"It's still a big deal," Lever said, "because non anybody is able to practice it."
Westbrook made similar statements after the Wizards' winning streak was snapped past the 146-143 loss to the Spurs. Asked about his latest triple-double, which included 22 points, xiii rebounds and xiv assists — albeit on 9-for-26 shooting — Westbrook said: "I honestly believe at that place is no player like myself. And if people want to take it for granted, distressing for them. But I'm pretty certain if everybody could exercise it, they would do information technology."
It's difficult to argue with that logic, although many try. In 2016-17, Westbrook became the first player since the 6-5 Robertson in 1961-62 to average a triple-double for an entire season. That feat helped Westbrook, starring for the 47-win Thunder, become the Due north.B.A.'south first Most Valuable Histrion Accolade winner from a sub-50-win squad since Moses Malone in 1981-82.
With a boost from his recent surge, Westbrook is on a grade to boilerplate a triple-double for the fourth time in five seasons, which in theory should position him every bit an M.VP. candidate. The reality is much colder: Westbrook has seemingly normalized averaging a triple-double and has been traded twice during that run, suggesting to some that triple-doubles aren't specially valuable. Or, worse, that he is not a role player to build effectually.
Washington caused him from Houston on Dec. 2 in a bandy of disgruntled backcourt stars that sent John Wall to the Rockets. In January and February, Westbrook's play was alarmingly inefficient and turnover-laden, with noticeably fewer rushes to the rim. Since the All-Star break, Westbrook has consistently played at a height-thirty level, and Washington has a net rating of plus-4.4 points per 100 possessions with both Westbrook and Bradley Beal on the floor.
Business organization persists over Westbrook'due south v turnovers per game, and his curious slippage at the complimentary-throw line to a career-low 62.8 percent from 76.iii per centum last flavor, but the abiding thrust Westbrook plays with has fabricated the Wizards hard to guard. His presence has not hindered Beal's scoring, as some surmised when the trade went downwards; Beal is locked in an almighty battle with Gilt State's Stephen Curry for the league'due south scoring title.
In March and April, Westbrook became the first player to annals at least 300 points, 150 assists and 150 rebounds in sequent calendar months since Wilt Chamberlain in February and March of 1968, according to research from the statistician Justin Kubatko. Westbrook volition never exist for everybody, especially without a ring, but Brooks couldn't have lobbied harder for the Wizards to reunite them when the trade opportunity arose. He coached him through nigh all of Westbrook's first 7 seasons in Oklahoma City,
"The rebounding is the most incredible thing," Brooks said. "He goes and gets them. He just has that knack. Information technology doesn't matter who's in front end of him; he e'er has i more step on his ladder. The will, the athleticism the competitive bulldoze — I knew what our squad needed.
"Xi rebounds a game for guy 6-3? We'll never run across a histrion similar him ever over again, non in my generation or my kids' generation."
Corner Three
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Y'all ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I'll field iii questions posed via electronic mail at marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com . Please include your first and final name, as well every bit the city you're writing in from, and make certain "Corner Iii" is in the subject line.
(Questions may exist condensed or lightly edited for clarity.)
Q: The Knicks have overperformed this season. The front end part did not brand any splashes at the trade deadline. Jeff Van Gundy recently mentioned on television that the Knicks were "still incredibly limited" talent-wise. Their best player is Julius Randle , but the N.B.A. has been a perimeter-based league for some time. How volition Leon Rose address this? — Wallace Leeth (Paterson, N.J.)
Stein: April has been a month for Knicks fans to savor. Genuine optimism and joy are tangible at Madison Square Garden for the first time in years. I suppose it was inevitable that someone would inject a sober dose of pragmatism into the chat, only it'due south also difficult to quibble with the patient approach — so far.
The Knicks are ahead of schedule and well positioned to pursue signings and trades to bolster an offensively challenged roster, with considerable bacon-cap infinite and two first-round picks forthcoming in the off-flavour. Team officials know they even so have plenty of work to do to upgrade the overall talent, merely that wasn't imperative at the trade deadline in March. Information technology'due south not similar there was a deviation-maker they missed out on.
It's truthful that this front office will ultimately be judged on its ability to sign or trade for at least one certifiable star to pair with Randle, which means persuading an established player to embrace the challenge of playing in New York every bit heartily as Randle did. Rose and his management squad as well have to caryatid for ongoing 2nd-guessing about their first draft selection if the rookie guard Tyrese Haliburton continues to flower in Sacramento, since they could have drafted Haliburton at No. 8 rather than Obi Toppin.
The Rose government, though, has washed many good things in its get-go twelvemonth. The Knicks announced to have hired the right coach in Tom Thibodeau, helped conductor Randle to All-Star status and can point to promising evolution from RJ Barrett and the rookie Immanuel Quickley to get-go the injuries that have derailed Mitchell Robinson's 3rd season.
There accept been whispers for weeks that the Knicks' flirtation with the East's No. 4 seed has helped restore their reputation to the point that star players are finally prepared to consider them a destination franchise once again. If that proves truthful, they volition have multiple pathways to address the concerns you lot raised, whether it'south by trying to sign a savvy sometime All-Star like Kyle Lowry or DeMar DeRozan on a brusk-term deal as a bridge to costless-amanuensis classes more star-laden than this summertime'south, or by using future draft picks (maybe packaged with Toppin) to construct a meaningful merchandise.
Things could e'er get askew if the Knicks rush into the wrong deal, as they have been known to do over the years, or if the team's possessor, James L. Dolan, decides he needs to become involved after constant by the organization'due south plan to permit Thibodeau and on-court results do all the talking. Only I would say that the Knicks accept certainly earned a grace period through the terminate of this surprising flavor. This is a fourth dimension for Knicks fans, surely, to revel in what'southward going right.
Q: Do they really get the Oscar itself? Kobe Bryant was very involved in co-creating his picture show, which is why he was given an Oscar . Executive producers frequently provide financing and aren't involved every bit hands-on producers. In any case, skilful for them. — @FromMeadows from Twitter
Stein: In my exuberance Dominicus nighttime, I tweeted that Kevin Durant, Mike Conley Jr. and Rich Kleiman, Durant's business organisation manager, joined Bryant as Oscar winners from the N.B.A. considering they were listed as executive producers for "2 Distant Strangers," which won the all-time alive action short moving picture category at Lord's day's University Awards. That's incorrect.
They were office of an Oscar-winning motion-picture show, but did non get awards themselves. Kobe took home an Oscar bays in 2018 for the animated short film "Dear Basketball game," which was based on a poem Bryant wrote in 2015 to announce his retirement at the end of the 2015-16 season.
Q: I've never seen so many tweets and stories most a team signing a guy to a ten-day contract. We've seen posts about Mike James about 50 times over the past calendar week. — @MrWright1218 from Twitter
Stein: In that location are some good reasons for that.
It'south partially a part of where we are on the regular-season calendar. There simply aren't as many roster moves happening this close to the postseason, especially involving title contenders, so the ones that do happen generate actress coverage.
Withal it'due south besides a byproduct of the circumstances. James was i of the near prominent Americans playing abroad, with a high-profile European order (CSKA Moscow), and he had a complicated contractual situation to negotiate — as well as six days' worth of wellness and prophylactic protocols to complete — earlier he could actually bring together the Nets on Friday. The fluidity of James's status led to more frequent updates.
Numbers Game
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50
Recording 50 wins in an 82-game flavor is a traditional marker for N.B.A. excellence. Winning 50 games in a 72-game season is obviously harder, but six teams still have a chance to do so with 19 days remaining in the regular season: Utah (44-17), Phoenix (43-18), the Los Angeles Clippers (43-20), the Nets (42-xx), Philadelphia (xl-21) and Denver (40-21). Of those six, only the Jazz (52) and the Suns (51) are currently on a pace to do so.
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Nikola Jokic's M.V.P. example will undoubtedly be bolstered by his durability in this pandemic season. Jokic has played in all 61 of Denver's games and has led the Nuggets to a 6-one tape since Jamal Murray's flavour-catastrophe knee injury on April 12. Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, widely regarded equally Jokic'southward closest pursuer in the 1000.V.P. race, has played in 42 of the 76ers' 61 games.
ix
Monday's domicile loss to the Suns, the No. 2 seed in the West, brought a halt to the Knicks' 9-game winning streak. The Knicks have had only i longer unbeaten run in the 21st century, winning xiii consecutive games tardily in the 2012-13 season, which featured the club's last playoff booth.
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The Knicks' Julius Randle leads the league at 37.5 minutes per game. Motorcoach Tom Thibodeau has faced criticism for years about overplaying his best players; Thibodeau near probable would counter that Randle, at 26, is young enough to handle the workload.
13
This is Seattle'southward 13th season without an Due north.B.A. team. The West.N.B.A.'s Seattle Tempest have won iii championships in that time, but the wait for a new franchise to replace the SuperSonics will soon take on a new dynamic when the Seattle Kraken join the N.H.L. side by side season. We're less than three months away from the Kraken's expansion typhoon on July 21.
Hit me up someday on Twitter ( @TheSteinLine ) or Facebook ( @MarcSteinNBA ) or Instagram (@thesteinline). Transport whatever other feedback to marcstein-newsletter@nytimes.com .
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/sports/basketball/russell-westbrook-triple-double.html#:~:text=In%202016%2D17%2C%20Westbrook%20became,Moses%20Malone%20in%201981%2D82.
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