What a way to bounce back.
After a rough shooting performance in a loss against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, Russell Westbrook responded with a huge triple-double in a blowout home win for the Oklahoma City Thunder today against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 2016-17 league MVP tallied 23 points, 19 rebounds, 15 assists and 2 steals on 58.8% shooting as the Thunder improved to 4-1 against Eastern Conference teams this season. The team's overall record improved to 13-7, good for fourth in a very competitive Western Conference. This comes after having started the season by losing their first four games.
More importantly, Westbrook made some history en route to the win.
After setting a couple of triple-double records during his MVP season for the most triple-doubles in a single regular season (42) and for averaging a triple-double over the course of an entire regular season for the first time since Oscar Robertson in 1961-62, Westbrook is now very close to climbing the ladder on the list for most triple-doubles recorded in league history.
With Thursday's triple-double, Westbrook ties Jason Kidd for the third most - 107.
Most triple-doubles in @NBAHistory:
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) November 29, 2018
181 - Oscar Robertson
138 - Magic Johnson
107 - Jason Kidd
107 - Russell Westbrook pic.twitter.com/0hPvLKr0g0
Over the previous two seasons, in the absence of Kevin Durant, Westbrook has averaged close to 34 triple-doubles each season. Although he's not on pace to reach that number this year, given his age, he certainly looks well placed to overtake Magic Johnson (138) before the end of his career.
