As the Wizards celebrate a playoff berth, fans are reflecting on the greatness of Russell Westbrook, who was just two rebounds shy of totaling a triple-double in Thursday’s play-in game.
After the match, Russ made a short appearance on “Inside the NBA,’ where Kenny Smith asked him to reveal the hardest part of getting a triple-double.
“The hardest part is probably what you can’t control: the assists. I can’t control is guys make shots. I can make it easy for them, but I can’t control if they score it or not. I can rebound on my own, score on my own, but I can’t control is guys make shots or not.”
“I just wanted to thank you for letting us down.” 😂
Russ explained the hardest part of getting a triple-double… AND Chuck called him out after he came up short in the Wizards' win. pic.twitter.com/TXr9Kyu1df
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 21, 2021
Considering Westbrook is just 6’3″, one would think that grabbing rebound over bigger, taller players might be more difficult.
But when you think about it, it really makes a lot of sense that assists would be the hardest for Russ. To tally 10 assists in a game requires your teammates to hit their shots.
Russ doesn’t need anybody to help him score or rebound, but he has to depend on others to get him assists.
Regardless of the difficulty, though, Westbrook makes it look easy. As the NBA’s All-Time leader in triple-doubles, he’s somewhat of a master in that category, and his team is all the better for it.