The Golden State Warriors avenged their first loss of the season with a dominant 128-103 win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night. While the Warriors’ starting backcourt was impressive, the all-around game from Draymond Green was the most noteworthy performance of the night.
Green’s 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists gave him his fourth triple-double of the season, which is tied with Rajon Rondo for the most in the NBA. Entering this season, he had one career triple-double.
According to Elias Sports Bureau research,
Green became the fifth player in Warriors history to put up a triple-double with five steals. Of the previous four, two are in the Hall of Fame and one of them is the league’s reigning MVP.
The only players in Warriors history with more triple-doubles are Tom Gola (20), Guy Rodgers (17), Andy Phillip (10), Wilt Chamberlain (eight) and Rick Barry (six), all of whom are in the Hall of Fame.
Two of Green’s triple-doubles this season have come against the Suns. Elias notes that over the past 30 seasons, the only player with more triple-doubles against Phoenix in a season is Elvin Hayes, who had three in 1968-69. Six other players have recorded two such games in a season over that span.
Both Green’s triple-double and teammate Klay Thompson’s 43-point performance came in the first three quarters. They are the second teammates to record a triple-double and 40 points in a game in the past 20 seasons. The other pair was Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook (triple-double) and Kevin Durant (42 points) on March 4, 2014.
