Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook is on an incredible run lately, and he took things to another level on Monday night.
Westbrook scored “only” 14 points (he only took eight shots), but he dished out 24 (!) assists and pulled 21 (!) rebounds in a 154-141 Wizards victory over the Indiana Pacers. The 24 assists tie a career-high for Westbrook, and the 21 rebounds are a career-high.
The nine-time All-Star becomes the first player in NBA history to have at least 20 assists and 20 rebounds in a game twice (he also did this on April 2, 2019). Wilt Chamberlain (Feb. 2, 1968) is the only other player to ever have one such game.
Full list of players with 20-rebound, 20-assist performances in NBA history, per @ESPNStatsInfo:
Russell Westbrook (twice)
Wilt Chamberlain— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) May 4, 2021
Additonally, the performance assures that Westbrook will average a triple-double over a full season for the fourth time in his career. Ridiculous.
Russell Westbrook will average a triple-double in a season for the 4th time in his career. Oscar Robertson is the only other player to do this & he did it once in 1961-62.
He could record 0 pts, rebs & 0 asts in every game the rest of the season & still average a triple-double. pic.twitter.com/kOzjsVAzCw
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 4, 2021
Westbrook and Bradley Beal (averaging 31.0 points per game this season) have the Wizards playing excellent basketball of late, with wins in 13 of their last 16 games. They currently have a three-game lead for the final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference and would play the Pacers (who are up a half game ahead of Washington) in the play-in tournament if the season ended today.
As for the Pacers, they allow 154 points one game after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 152-95.
