Russell Westbrook clinches season-long triple-double (Video)

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook has just made history.

Russell Westbrook has done it. With his sixth assist on Friday night in Phoenix, the Oklahoma City Thunder guard reached 820 assists on the season, meaning he has assured himself of being the first player since Oscar Robertson, who accomplished the feat in the 1961-1962 season, and just the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double over the course of an entire NBA season.

Here’s the assist that made history.

While Westbrook did clinch a bit of history on Friday night, he’s certainly not done as he’s looking to make a little more as the game progresses. A triple-double tonight would be his 42nd of the season, which would pass the all-time mark of 41 set by “The Big O” back during that 1961-1962 campaign. It would also mean that Westbrook would pass Wilt Chamberlain for fourth on the all-time triple-double list. He came into tonight’s game tied with Wilt with 78 for his career and trails only Jason Kidd (107), Magic Johnson (138) and of course, Oscar Robertson (181).

He nearly got his 42nd on Wednesday night in Memphis but a long rebound near the end of the game went right over his head and he fell just one board shy of the record. In fact, that’s the seventh game in which Westbrook has been just one rebound or one assist shy of a triple-double, which is incredible enough in itself. But the Thunder still got a very important win as they’re still fighting for seeding in the Western Conference Playoffs. As it stands now, the Thunder sit in the sixth spot and would have a first-round matchup with Westbrook’s biggest competition in the Most Valuable Player race in James Harden and the Houston Rockets.

As for what Russell Westbrook accomplished on Friday night, it’s nothing short of remarkable. He’s maintained a triple-double average since Nov. 28 following a 112-103 victory at Madison Square Garden over the Knicks, a game in which he put up 27 points, 14 assists and 17 rebounds, and while he came close in the past few weeks to dipping into single digits in his assists average, he never dropped below the line. He’s had two different runs of seven consecutive games with a triple-double this season, seven 40-point triple-doubles and two 50-point triple-doubles, including a record-setting 57 points last Wednesday night in Orlando to go along with 11 assists and 13 rebounds in a 114-106 overtime win.

It’s actually kind of fitting that Westbrook clinched this against Phoenix as he’s absolutely torched the Suns this season. Entering Friday night’s matchup, Westbrook was averaging 41.7 points, 13.7 assists and 13.7 rebounds in three games against them this year. He also clinched the assurance of averaging at least 10 points per game for the season against the Suns after scoring 26 against them back on Dec. 17, which got him to exactly 820 points for the year. He’s obviously scored a few more points since then. He nabbed his 820th rebound of the season on Tuesday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Congratulations to Russell Westbrook on this historic accomplishment.