Russell Westbrook’s Triple-Doubles Are All Natural

Russell Westbrook posted a sixth straight triple-double Monday night in Atlanta. The NBA hasn’t seen such a streak since Michael Jordan ripped off seven in a row late during the 1988-89 season.

Coincidentally, the Oklahoma City Thunder have won six straight games. With Monday night’s victory, the Thunder are now 9-2 this season when Westbrook posts a triple-double.

While he has accumulated 11 such feats, the rest of the NBA has 12 combined.

Does the Thunder’s success rest solely in Westbrook’s hands? That’s not the case according to his coach and teammates.

“We’re not relying on it, looking at it like ‘oh we need his triple-double’,” Steven Adams said. “All we need from him is his energy and just…his normal self.”

31 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 11.3 assists per night is apparently Westbrook’s “normal self.”

He’s managed to turn the extraordinary into ordinary.

But don’t catch yourself looking at Westbrook’s triple-doubles from the wrong vantage point: It’s not necessarily that the Thunder are winning because of what Westbrook is doing. It’s that he’s racking up stats in large part due to the work of his teammates. They are creating opportunities for him.

“Our front court guys help Russell rebound,” Billy Donovan said. “When Steven Adams is locked up with Dwight Howard, and neither one of them get the ball because of the wrestling match underneath the basket, it helps Russell.“

Some big men around the league might chafe at the idea of doing all the dirty work so another teammate can reap the benefits. The standard NBA box score doesn’t indicate the number of successful box outs, for example.

That kind of thankless work can easily go unnoticed, but Adams doesn’t mind. He says the rest of the Thunder squad doesn’t, either.

“No one cares. I like it because then I can actually box out my dude,” Adams said. “It’s good that he (Westbrook) gets to come in and take it. I don’t mind it. It doesn’t matter as long as our team gets the rebound.”

Westbrook is averaging 13.9 rebounds per game during this triple-double streak, and even though the Thunder star is attempting 24 shots per game, he’s still getting his teammates involved offensively.

“When our guys run the floor really hard and he gets Andre Roberson a layup or he gets Victor Oladipo a layup or he finds Steven in …

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