Russell Westbrook went insane against the Denver Nuggets for his 42nd triple-double of the season, hit the game-winner to seal the deal
Advertisement
The day is April 9 in the year 2017. The Oklahoma City Thunder are visiting the Denver Nuggets for their 3rd contest of the season. A crucial matchup for the Nuggets, they need to secure this win to keep their chances of staying in the race for the playoffs.
However, there was a force on the court that did not agree with the same. The name of the force was none other than Russell Westbrook. Having an MVP caliber season, Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to the 6th seed in the West, in the first season without Kevin Durant.
Entering the game, Russ had 41 triple-doubles to his name, tied with Oscar Robertson for the most in a regular season. Russ had barely missed getting triple-doubles in the last two contests and was on the lookout for #42. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, Brodie brought out his A-Game.
How Russell Westbrook got 4 birds with the same stone against the Nuggets
Back in the 2016-17 season, Russell Westbrook was showing the NBA how good of a player he was, and finding ways to win without KD. Westbrook ended up averaging a triple-double for the season and putting up an MVP caliber season to do the same.
Russ Westbrook’s MVP season was ridiculous.
🔳No. 1 PTS
🔳No. 1 “clutch” PTS
🔳No. 1 PER
🔳No. 2 AST
🔳Played 81 games
🔳18 40-point games
🔳50+ PTS four times
🔳42 triple-doubles (record)
🔳1st trip-dub average since Oscar
🔳Made the playoffs without KDNobody wanted it more. pic.twitter.com/umafbLP6hX
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 2, 2020
In the game against the Nuggets, the Thunder were struggling on the floor. They couldn’t get their shots to land, and it seemed like the Nuggets would be able to sneak in a win. However, that is when Russell Westbrook went beast mode, dropping a monster 50 point, 16 rebound, and 10 assist performance. He hit the game-winning shot from near mid-court to put the Thunder up 106-105.
Who else? Russell Westbrook drills a 3 at the buzzer and Thunder wins!! #MVP #MVP #MVP pic.twitter.com/hPaNKalFiJ
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) April 9, 2017
In this one game, Russ not recorded a 50-point triple-double but also broke Oscar Robertson’s single-game triple-double record. Russ also hit the game-winner and eliminated the Nuggets from the playoffs in one go.
5 years ago, Russell Westbrook did all these in a game:
50-point triple-double
Broke Oscar Robertson’s triple-double record
Hit the game-winnerBrodie was a bad man. pic.twitter.com/ZCvKO4cTh5
— NBA Memes (@NBAMemes) April 9, 2022
2016-17 Westbrook was a whole different beast.