Russell Westbrook joined Oscar Robertson as the only players in National Basketball Association history to average a triple-double for a season.
That did not make him feel much better about his or his team’s awful Friday night game, when Westbrook failed for the second game in a row to break Robertson’s 55-year-old, single-season record for most triple-doubles.
The dynamic Oklahoma City Thunder guard fell two assists shy of what would have been his 42nd in the Thunder’s 120-99 loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Photo: AFP
“You could never say in a million years that I would think that was even possible,” Westbrook said of averaging a triple-double for the season.
“My main goal since I got here, especially this season, is to win a championship,” Westbrook said. “If I wanted to get 10 assists, I could get 10 assists. Everybody wants to see the record broke, but it’s bigger than that for our team and for me.”
On a rough night all around, Westbrook had 23 points — on six-of-25 shooting, two of 12 three-pointers — 12 rebounds and eight assists, along with eight turnovers before coach Billy Donovan pulled him with 2 minutes, 34 seconds to play.
Devin Booker scored 21 of the Suns’ 25 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 37 as Phoenix snapped a 13-game losing streak.
“From the start of the game, Russ was chasing history,” Booker said. “Unbelievable player. I’m sure he’s going to get it. I’m happy it wasn’t here, but we locked in defensively.”
Westbrook did get the six assists he needed to assure that he would join Robertson as the only players to average a triple-double for a season — breaching double figures for all three categories. Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists for the Cincinnati Royals in the 1961-1962 season.
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
Chelsea scored the go-ahead goal on Malo Gusto’s 83rd-minute shot that went in after a pair of deflections, beating Palmeiras 2-1 on Friday night for a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals. Cole Palmer put Chelsea ahead in the 16th minute, but Estevao, an 18-year-old who is to transfer to Chelsea this summer, tied the score against his future club with an angled shot in the 53rd. Gusto’s shot following a short corner kick appeared to deflect off defender Agustin Giay and goalkeeper Weverton and sent the Chelsea portion of 65,782 fans into a frenzy. FIFA credited Weverton with an
RSS