Heading into tonight’s final regular season game for the Thunder, Russell Westbrook needed to pull down 16 rebounds in order to average a triple double for the season, which would give him back-to-back seasons in that category.
Guess what? Westbrook did just that, grabbing his 16th board in the third quarter against the Grizzlies. Even more impressive is the fact that he made history once again.
NBA on Twitter
WESTBROOK WATCH! With his 16th rebound, Russ secures averaging a triple-double for the 2nd straight season! #ThunderUp
Last season he became the first player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robinson did it in 1962 and he deservedly took home the NBA MVP along with his performance. With his 16th board tonight, he became the first player to average a triple-double twice, and do it in consecutive seasons.
“A lot of people make jokes about stat padding rebounds,” he said on Wednesday. “If people could get 20 rebounds every night, they would. If people could get [expletive] 15 rebounds, they would.”
With two games remaining in the season, he needed 34 rebounds to make history, so he promptly grabbed 18 on Monday against Miami and then followed it up by grabbing 16 tonight in three quarters before exiting the game to the cheers of admiration from the fans. Many seemed to forget about Russ this year in the MVP race, many thinking it’s a Harden-LeBron contest. But with another triple-double, history making season, complete with an average of 25.6 points, 10.1 assists and 10 rebounds, the attention has to turn back to Oklahoma City.
NBA on Twitter
Russ receives a big applause by fans in OKC for reaching his 2nd season straight averaging a triple-double! #ThunderUp https://t.co/P7JaQWPj2n
