OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook is back to chasing NBA history, needing 16 rebounds on Wednesday against the Memphis Grizzlies to become the first player to average a triple-double in multiple seasons.
"I don't think Russell's ever played that way," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said of Westbrook going after the mark. "I think he's always focused on winning.
"He's got a unique ability as a guy that's been able to impact the game with his scoring, his rebounding and his assists, but for me as a coach the most important thing as a coach is can we build off these last two games on the road and play better and make some improvements and strides. Just being around Russell, I know he's not wrapped up at all in that stuff. He's more wrapped up in winning.
"That's the most important thing to him and the most important thing to our team, so again, it would be a great personal milestone. Certainly, what he did last year was incredible. It would be another incredible milestone this year, but to the same point, it's not about that. It's about our team and it's about winning."
Entering Monday's game against the Miami Heat, Westbrook needed 34 rebounds and 12 assists in the final two games to hit the mark. He hauled in 18 rebounds and 12 assists -- plus 23 points for his 25th triple-double of the season -- in a 115-93 win to secure the Thunder a playoff spot. Westbrook is at 25.6 points, 10.1 assists and 9.9 rebounds per game this season.
Last season Westbrook became the first player since Oscar Robertson in 1961-62 to average a triple-double, while also breaking Robertson's all-time mark for triple-doubles in a season.
"The scoring part is the easy part of the triple-double," Donovan said. "It just is because he's going to be able to score. It's the other things that he does that impacts winning. Rebounding helps us win. The assists get other people involved. I think it speaks to him as a player, more than anything else, in how unique he is."
It appeared a long shot for Westbrook to make up enough ground and average 10 rebounds a game this season, but in four games so far this month he's averaging 14 a game. Westbrook's hyperactivity on the glass isn't anything new, but it has led to his teammates joking about him taking boards from them.
"Sometimes you want to fight him a little bit, push him out of the way," Carmelo Anthony said Tuesday. "For me, it's good because to have a guard like that to be able to crack back and get rebounds. He steals sometimes. He steals rebounds sometimes. But any time you can have a guard like that to come back and rebound the way he does, because we want to push the break, when he gets it off the rebound he's able to jump start the break and a lot of good things happen from that."
Asked about how teammates feel about Westbrook taking rebounds, Anthony laughed and said "he steals, oh he steals," but said it's more a joke among the team than anything serious.
"We got a defensive rebound," Anthony said. "I don't think nobody thinks twice about that. As long as we get the rebound, I don't think we worry about that. Individually, it's not like, 'Damn, I've gotta get this rebound. I've gotta rebound more.' As long as we get the rebound, we're all cool with that."
Westbrook's rebounding has drawn criticism from stat skeptics who have taken notice of his teammates boxing out for him on opposing free-throw misses, but Donovan said Westbrook's ability to hit the glass is a huge advantage for the Thunder.
"Oh, it helps. It's big," Donovan said. "Any time you have a point guard or a person that's a ball handler starting the break and they're the first person to touch the ball off a rebound, it's really hard to get back in transition. For Russell, as great of a rebounder as he is, those times that he gets it, it allows everybody to run, it allows the floor to be open, it allows him to use his speed, his athleticism and his quickness, and then he gets his vision involved. There's a huge advantage when he rebounds and starts the break."
The Thunder are 20-5 this season when Westbrook records a triple-double.
Even with the playoffs clinched, the Thunder have something to play for against the Grizzlies on the last day of the season, too. With a win, the Thunder guarantee no worse than the 6-seed in the Western Conference and could reach as high as No. 4.
