Russell Westbrook Made NBA History With 35 Points, 21 Assists, And 14 Rebounds Against Indiana

Russell Westbrook isn’t a stranger to making NBA history when it comes to triple doubles. The former MVP has stuffed the stat sheet for years, becoming the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple-double for a season back in his MVP winning campaign 2016-17.

However, in recent years, Westbrook has had some issues with efficiency and has shuffled from the Thunder to the Rockets to now being on the Wizards. His tenure in Washington got off to a rough start as he dealt with injury and was trying to find his rhythm with a new team, but has steadily rounded his way into better form since getting healthy, once again averaging a triple-double (which he’ll look to do for the fourth time in five years). That helped Washington rebound a bit to at least in the play-in hunt in the East, but they recently hit another rough patch that dropped them to 13th in the conference.

On Monday night, though, they picked up a win over Indiana thanks to a preposterous performance from Westbrook, who put together the first 35-point, 20-assist triple-double in league history.

Given complaints about Westbrook have been that while his production is prolific, it hasn’t impacted winning, he at least quieted that talk for a night as he was the catalyst for a Wizards win in a back-and-forth affair with the Pacers despite the absence of Bradley Beal. Westbrook was efficient, going 14-of-26 from the field and 4-of-6 from three, and had just about everything working on Monday, accounting for 88 points scoring and creating.

It’s a reminder of just how good Westbrook is when he’s at his best. His rough nights are really rough but his great nights are historically great, and that’s really the full Russ experience. He might have the widest floor and ceiling of any star in the league, and it makes him at times frustrating for fans. Still, it’s worth celebrating performances like this and Washington picked up a needed win in the process.