NBA: Westbrook triple-double streak ends in Thunder win

Russell Westbrook #0 missed out on a fifth straight triple-double Saturday, March 18, 2017, in Oklahoma City Thunder’s 110-94 victory over the Sacramento Kings. AFP

LOS ANGELES, United States — NBA scoring leader Russell Westbrook netted a game-high 28 points but missed out on a fifth consecutive triple-double Saturday in Oklahoma City’s 110-94 home victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Westbrook, averaging a league-high 31.7 points a game, also passed off 10 assists but managed only eight rebounds before being removed with 58 seconds remaining and the outcome not in doubt.

The Thunder’s fifth consecutive victory improved the team’s record to 40-29 to match the Los Angeles Clippers for fifth in the Western Conference.

READ: Westbrook’s Thunder stop Spurs’ winning streak

With 13 games remaining in the regular season Westbrook has so far this season managed 34 triple-doubles — double-digit performances in three statistical categories in one game.

That leaves Westbrook seven triple-doubles shy of Oscar Robertson’s record of 41 in a single season from the 1961-62 campaign.

That season was also the one in which Robertson became the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season.

Robertson scored 30.8 points, pulling down 12.5 rebounds and passing off 11.4 assists a game for the Cincinnati Royals, who moved to Kansas City in 1972 and again to Sacramento in 1985.

Westbrook could become the second NBA player to average a full season triple-double. In addition to his top point total, the 28-year-old American guard is averaging 10.5 rebounds and 10.4 assists a game. CBB