Welcome to Triple-Double Watch, a weekly check-in on everyone’s favorite arbitrary milestone of round, base-ten numbers.
Anthony Davis accomplished something only achieved nine times by six other players since 2010: get a triple-double with 10 blocks. Over the course of his career, Davis accumulated 222 double-doubles, but the rare feat on Sunday was his first dip in the triple-double pool.
Davis has gone ballistic over the past month, averaging 33.2 points, 13.3 rebounds, and four blocks, while leading the league in scoring and blocks per game. The Pelicans are similarly (and relatedly) on a tear, playing .800 basketball over in that time frame. With Davis evolving into a nuclear fusion version of himself and leading the way, New Orleans currently sits fifth in the very competitive Western Conference playoff hunt.
After failing to make an appearance — for only the fifth time this year — in last week’s post, Russell Westbrook came back with a vengeance, as he’s prone to do. The Triple-Double Lord put up a pair in the past seven days, importantly helping the Thunder to wins in both and, slightly more importantly, giving me extra material to cover here. Westbrook now has 20 on the season, one shy of attaining the 100th of his career and eight back of Jason Kidd for third all-time.
Nikola Jokic and Draymond Green rounded out this batch of triple-doubles, also guiding their teams to victories in the process.
Jokic got four triple-doubles in his last 11 games. He has seven on the season, all of which came after the New Year. Green’s third of the season wasn’t the gaudiest, but everything Golden State’s Swiss Army Knife does is essential to their success.
Overall, Westbrook padded his lead over the rest of the league, Jokic moved into sole possession of third place, while Green climbed into a tie for fifth.
Next: What exactly are the Knicks doing?
With the Kings and Spurs each giving up two triple-doubles this week, they move into a five-way tie for the most allowed on the season. Along with them, the Bulls, Hawks, and Jazz all conceded five so far this year. Those five teams have a combined winning percentage of 41.2 percent. Coincidence? Probably not. Correlation? Maybe. Hotel? Trivago.