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Russell Westbrook made more triple-double history with a perfect shooting night

Russell Westbrook made NBA history on Wednesday night. (AP)
Russell Westbrook made NBA history on Wednesday night. (AP)

At a certain point this season, the mere existence of a Russell Westbrook triple-double stopped being interesting. The Oklahoma City Thunder superstar has put up so many in 2016-17 that a line of at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists wasn’t enough to move the needle. Averaging a triple-double over the course of the season and his ever-climbing raw triple-double total remained impressive, but it would take a really special game to draw attention. That’s the thing about an average — no matter how incredible it is, it eventually becomes the new norm.

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Thankfully, Westbrook keeps coming through with those historically relevant nights. His latest came on Wednesday against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers.

Westbrook’s 35th triple-double in 71 games didn’t feature huge numbers. He put up a modest (for him) 18 points, 14 assists, and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes during a 122-97 blowout win for the Thunder. But Westbrook went 6-of-6 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line to get his points, and no player had ever managed to log a triple-double without missing a shot:

Curtis Harris of Pro Hoops History noted that Wilt Chamberlain had triple-doubles without missing a field goal on three occasions in the ’60s, but the career 51.1 percent shooter was unsurprisingly unable to make it work at the line.


It’s always a notable achievement when someone does something for the first time in NBA history. Even Westbrook, who regularly says he doesn’t think much about his stats and cares much more about wins, was a little shocked at his historic performance:

The Sixers weren’t so surprised. Point guard T.J. McConnell knew he was going to be in for a hard night:

@tjmcconnell is just stating the obvious when it comes to @russwest44

A post shared by Ball Don't Lie (@yahooballdontlie) on Mar 23, 2017 at 8:11am PDT

In truth, Westbrook was far from the only Thunder player to dominate on Wednesday. Enes Kanter (24 points on 8-of-9 FG) and Victor Oladipo (18 points on 7-of-13 FG) also scored in double figures as OKC shot 54.5 percent from the field. Sixers forward Dario Saric summed up the character of the game quite well:

Indeed.

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As ever, though, the focus is on Westbrook. If he plays all of the Thunder’s remaining 11 games, he will need to total just 85 assists and 76 rebounds to hit his 82-game triple-double average. Given the pace he’s set this season, those numbers all seem well within reach.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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