Westbrook's Historic Triple-Double Lifts Thunder To Blow Out Win Over Bucks

Russell Westbrook tied Oscar Robertson’s NBA record with his 41st triple-double of the season as the Thunder beat the Bucks, 110-79 on Tuesday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.

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Westbrook finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists as he got a standing ovation from the OKC crowd after reaching the milestone on an assist to Taj Gibson with 9:18 left in the third quarter. Westbrook has now tallied a triple-double in seven consecutive games.

While it was Westbrook who did most of the facilitating in this OKC win, one of the biggest stories was how his team played without him on the floor. For most of this season, OKC has struggled whenever Westbrook takes a breather, but that wasn’t the case in the first half on Tuesday.

Westbrook checked out with 2:03 left in the first quarter with the Thunder leading 18-16, but by the time he returned with 7:43 left in the second quarter, OKC had outscored Milwaukee 22-11 thanks to some big shots from Enes Kanter and Alex Abrines.

With Westbrook back in the game, the Thunder really started to push the pedal to the medal.

Westbrook found Victor Oladipo for an open 3-pointer on his first possession back in the game, and before you knew it, the Thunder led by a whopping 24 points at halftime against a team fighting for playoff positioning. 

Thanks to Westbrook’s aggressiveness, OKC opened the second half on a 13-7 run to take a 30-point lead and never looked back. 

Kanter led the Thunder in scoring with 17 points to go with his five rebounds off the bench while Gibson played well with 12 points. Abrines made four of his six attempts from behind the arc for 12 points before leaving the game in the second quarter with a left knee sprain. 

Michael Beasley led the Bucks with 14 points while Giannis Antetokounmpo was limited to only 11 points and 10 rebounds. 

The Thunder will be back in action on Wednesday night in Memphis when it takes on the Grizzlies.