Oscar Robertson is the only player ever to have more triple-doubles in a season than Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook had his 31st triple-double of the season to help Oklahoma City beat the San Antonio Spurs 102-92 on Thursday.
He had 23 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists to match Wilt Chamberlain’s 1967-1968 campaign for the second-most triple-doubles in a season.
Photo: AP
Robertson had 41 during the 1961-1962 season. Westbrook said he is honored to be among the greats.
“It’s a blessing, man,” he said. “You come out every night and compete, and try to compete at a high level. Whenever you are mentioned with guys like that, it’s always a blessing. I don’t take it for granted.”
Victor Oladipo scored 20 points, while Enes Kanter added 14 points and 10 rebounds to help the Thunder snap a four-game losing streak.
“It means that we’re on the right track,” Westbrook said. “Obviously, throughout seasons, there’s times when you go through adversity. The strongest teams stick together through adversity and tonight we were able to stick together.”
The Thunder are 25-6 this season when Westbrook gets a triple-double and 43-6 the past two seasons.
Kawhi Leonard scored 19 points for the Spurs, but he took a hit to the head and neck area on a drive to the hoop by Oladipo in the third quarter and he did not play the fourth.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was unsure how serious the injury was, but he would not blame Leonard’s injury for his team’s winning streak ending at nine games.
“They beat us anyway,” Popovich said. “If Kawhi would have played in the fourth, if they would have continued to do what they were doing and we continued to do what we were doing, they would have won anyway. We never make excuses. We got our butts kicked.”
Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kyle Anderson sat out for the Spurs. Ginobili rested, Parker had back stiffness and Anderson had a sprained knee.
San Antonio dropped two games behind the Golden State Warriors in the race for the best record in the NBA. The Spurs host the Warriors today.
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