Westbrook Becomes 6th Player to Record 4 Straight Triple-Doubles
Despite playing with a mask to protect a fracture of his right zygomatic arch, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook put up 49 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists in Wednesday's 123-118 overtime win over the Philadelphia 76ers, thus becoming the sixth player in NBA history to record a triple-double in four consecutive games, per Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman.
Dominant in the absence of teammate Kevin Durant over the past few weeks, Westbrook joins a group comprised of Maurice Stokes, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan.
Jordan was the most recent of that group to accomplish the feat, as he incredibly recorded seven consecutive triple-doubles in 1989, per Basketball-Reference.com on Twitter.
While Westbrook's streak currently stands at four, his recent run of play has arguably been just as impressive as what Jordan did over 25 years ago.
With 49 points in Wednesday's game, the 26-year-old point guard tied Larry Bird for the most points scored in a triple-double over the last 30 seasons, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Westbrook also joined Vince Carter as the only players with 45-plus points, 15-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists in a single game over the last 30 seasons, per ESPN Stats & Info.
And, having previously scored 40 points in Friday's loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, Westbrook joined Jordan and Pete Maravich as the only players to record back-to-back triple-doubles with at least 40 points, per Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).
As if that weren't enough, Westbrook and Oscar Robertson are the only players to record three consecutive triple-doubles with 35 or more points in each game, per NBA.com/Stats.
Westbrook and Robertson are also the only players to average 31-plus points, nine-plus rebounds and 10-plus assists over the course of a calendar month (min. 10 games) after Westbrook finished February with averages of 31.2 points, 9.1 rebounds and 10.3 assists, per NBA.com/Stats.
There's really no end to Westbrook's recent statistical accomplishments, and he'll enter Thursday's game against a banged-up Chicago Bulls team in search of a fifth consecutive triple-double.
