NBA: Westbrook, Harden spark triple-doubles to record pace

Houston Rockets’ James Harden (13) hugs his former teammate, Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook after an NBA basketball game in Houston, Thursday Jan. 5, 2017. The Rockets defeated the Thunder 118-116. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

NBA scoring leader Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City and assists leader James Harden of Houston are leading the league on a record-shattering pace for triple-doubles in a season.

So far this season, there have been 42 triple-doubles — double-digit production in three statistical categories in a single game.

That’s on pace for 97 for the full season, well ahead of the NBA record of 78 set in the 1988-89 campaign and last season’s second-best total of 75.

Westbrook leads the NBA this season with 16 triple-doubles while Harden is second with nine and Cleveland star LeBron James ranks a distant third with three this season.

The most recent for Westbrook came December 31 when he finished with 17 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds. But he reached a triple-double in only 19 minutes, just off the fastest triple-double ever record in NBA history, Jim Tucker’s 17-minute effort in 1955.

Westbrook is averaging 30.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 10.5 assists a game in a bid to become only the second player in NBA history with a triple-double season average. Hall of Fame legend Oscar Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists a game in the 1961-62 campaign for the Cincinnati Royals, now the Sacramento Kings.

Harden ranks fourth among NBA scorers with 28.4 points a game but has a league-best 11.9 assists and 8.2 rebounds a game.

Westbrook is on pace for 36 triple-doubles, which would fall short of the single-season record of 41 achieved by Robertson in 1961-62. Wilt Chamberlain is second with 31 in the 1967-68 season.

Only two more triple-doubles this season would allow Westbrook to match his total from last season of 18, level eighth in NBA history. His 53 career triple-doubles rank sixth in NBA history and top all active players.

Westbrook’s Thunder are 21-15 this season with 46 games remaining, sixth in the Western Conference, while Harden’s Rockets are 27-9 and third overall in the West.

Harden, who has 18 career triple-doubles, and Westbrook have each scored 50 points this season in a triple-double effort, a feat that had not been done since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar achieved it in 1975.

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