Russell Westbrook 35th triple-double in OKC's blowout win over Sixers
Russ six away from matching NBA record
Russell Westbrook notched his 35th triple-double of the 2016-2017 NBA regular season and the Oklahoma City Thunder won a 122-97 blowout over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. Like in his previous triple-double, Westbrook need to play in only three quarters to get this one.
Westbrook played 28 minutes and recorded 18 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists. He is now just six triple-doubles away from tying Oscar Robertson’s triple-double record of 41, the most in a single regular season.
The Thunder was comfortably ahead of the Sixers by the time Westbrook got his triple-double, per ESPN. The superstar point guard did not need to play in garbage time of the blowout game in OKC. The Thunder raced off to a 29-22 lead after the first quarter and then bumped it to double digits, 63-50 at the end of the first half.
OKC continued its good showing and outscored Philadelphia, 32-20 in the third quarter on the way to the easy blowout victory. The Thunder improved to 41-30 after the win and remained in sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Memphis Grizzlies is at 40-31 in seventh place and just one game behind OKC in the team standings. Both the Thunder and Grizzlies are trying to avoid the seventh seed in the conference, as they want to avoid a first round meeting with either the San Antonio Spurs or Golden State Warriors.
The Sixers remains one of the worst teams in the league and on its way to the NBA Draft lottery. Nik Staukas led Philadelphia vs. the Thunder with 20 points. The Sixers was outrebounded by the Thunder, 54-25 underscoring the poor effort from Philadelphia the entire game.
The Thunder has won six of its last seven games. Its only loss came against West rival Warriors on March 20. Westbrook and OKC will have another marquee match-up coming up when it faces James Harden and the Houston Rockets in their next game.
This will be part of a three-game road trip that includes games against the Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks. Then OKC goes home to host Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs.
Westbrook is also aiming to average a triple-double in a season with only Robertson achieving that feat in NBA history. This year, Westbrook is averaging 31.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 10.3 assists with 11 games left for the Thunder. In the 1961-1962 NBA Season, Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists in 79 games played.
