LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Russell Westbrook capped his history-making 42nd triple-double of the season with a game-winning three-pointer on Sunday as his Oklahoma City Thunder knocked the Denver Nuggets out of NBA playoff contention.
Westbrook scored 50 points, pulled down 16 rebounds and handed out 10 assists to break the single-season triple-double record set by Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62 campaign.
It was his third 50-point triple-double of the season – another record – and left Westbrook feeling “blessed, very blessed’’.
It was yet another remarkable display of the all-around excellence that a triple-double – the achievement of double-digit totals in three of five key statistical categories – has come to represent.
Westbrook had already joined Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double over the course of a season.
But since notching his 41st triple-double of the season on Tuesday he had twice fallen short as he vied for number 42.
When it came, it was spectacular.
With fans in Denver cheering him on, he gained the needed 10th assist with 4:17 remaining in the fourth quarter.