NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — NBA scoring leader Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City and assists leader James Harden of Houston are leading the league on a record-shattering pace for triple-doubles in a season.
So far this season, there have been 42 triple-doubles — double-digit production in three statistical categories in a single game.
That’s on pace for 97 for the full season, well ahead of the NBA record of 78 set in the 1988-89 campaign and last season’s second-best total of 75.
Westbrook leads the NBA this season with 16 triple-doubles while Harden is second with nine and Cleveland star LeBron James ranks a distant third with three this season.
The most recent for Westbrook came December 31 when he finished with 17 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds. But he reached a triple-double in only 19 minutes, just off the fastest triple-double ever record in NBA history, Jim Tucker’s 17-minute effort in 1955.
Westbrook is averaging 30.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 10.5 assists a game in a bid to become only the second player in NBA history with a triple-double season average. Hall of Fame legend Oscar Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists a game in the 1961-62 campaign for the Cincinnati Royals, now the Sacramento Kings.
Harden ranks fourth among NBA scorers with 28.4 points a game but has a league-best 11.9 assists and 8.2 rebounds a game.
Westbrook is on pace for 36 triple-doubles, which would fall short of the single-season record of 41 achieved by Robertson in 1961-62. Wilt Chamberlain is second with 31 in the 1967-68 season.
Only two more triple-doubles this season would allow Westbrook to match his total from last season of 18, level eighth in NBA history. His 53 career triple-doubles rank sixth in NBA history and top all active players.
Westbrook’s Thunder are 21-15 this season with 46 games remaining, sixth in the Western Conference, while Harden’s Rockets are 27-9 and third overall in the West.
Harden, who has 18 career triple-doubles, and Westbrook have each scored 50 points this season in a triple-double effort, a feat that had not been done since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar achieved it in 1975.
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