With his latest triple double, Oklahoma Thunder guard Russell Westbrook became just the sixth NBA player to record double figures in three of the positive columns on the stats sheets for four consecutive games.
Westbrook joins a club that includes Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Maurice Stokes, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain.
The OKC guard continued to step up in the absence of league MVP Kevin Durant, making history when he led the Thunder to an overtime win against the Philadelphia 76ers. Westbrook dropped 49 points, collected 16 rebounds and dished 10 assists during the game.
Maybe it was the mask. Westbrook wore a mask during the historic performance, using the face guard to protect a bone fracture in his cheek that he sustained five nights earlier in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers.
With under two minutes left in overtime, Westbrook earned his 10th assist with a pass to DJ Augustine, who sank a three. Westbrook became the first player in over 20 years to record four consecutive triple doubles -- previously, a 1989 performance by Jordan was the most recent.
Westbrook described his performance as a "blessing," but stressed that it was more important that his team was winning. That win over the 76ers marked the Thunder's sixth straight win, its 12th straight over Philly's team.
Westbrook averaged 31.2 points, 9.1 rebounds 10.3 assists per game in February. While it remains to be seen if he'll embrace the mask like Rip Hamilton, the facial protection appeared to have negligible effect on his game.
When asked if the mask got in his way during the game, Westbrook said it was "weird." He also said "it was OK," though he had to clean it constantly.
"[I] Had to keep wiping it," Westbrook said. "It was a total big process of trying to keep everything from fogging up. That's not going to stop me. My job is to come out and trying to lead my team."
Even Westbrook's coach, Scott Brooks, didn't quite expect the streaking guard to play so well with the mask on.
"For those of you, including myself, that thought Russell might need a couple of games to get used to wearing a mask, we were wrong," Brooks said.
While Westbrook returned to the Thunder after brief time off to deal with the injury to his face, Durant is still working to rejoin the team and won't set a timetable for when that could occur.
About a week and half ago, Durant had follow-up surgery on his foot. While he's working through the pain, he told NewsOk he's confident he'll return this season.
"I'm looking forward to returning this season," said Durant. "No doubt. I'm not packing it in at all."
