No basketball player fills up the stat sheet quite like Russell Westbrook. The Oklahoma City guard is able to get buckets, set up his teammates, and attack the glass in a way that players of his stature aren’t normally able to do. It’s fun to watch … unless you’re someone who believes Westbrook goes out of his way to score, dish out assists, or haul in rebounds as a way to inflate his numbers.
Westbrook got accused of this a whole lot during his MVP season, when he averaged a triple-double on the year and set the record for games in which he recorded a triple-double. While this wasn’t around as much last year — when he, once again, averaged a triple-double on the season — the talking point still existed.
Friday night’s win over the Charlotte Hornets featured Westbrook’s latest big statistical performance, as he went for 30 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists in a 109-104 Thunder victory. After the game, Westbrook was asked about going for rebounds late and gave a brief and sarcastic response.
What’s Russell Westbrook’s mindset when he’s pulling down defensive rebounds late in the game?
“Stat padding.” pic.twitter.com/ZLsukEIoSJ
— Erik Horne (@ErikkHorne) November 24, 2018
It’s a funny and self-aware answer by Westbrook, who has had this stuff following him around for some time. The de facto response has always been “I do what I need to do to help my team win,” but candidly, this answer is far more fun.
