Russell Westbrook coming under criticism is not a new development.

The Oklahoma City Thunder point guard has been one of the most polarizing players in the NBA since he arrived. Even though he has averaged a triple-double the last two seasons, it's not made him immune from the critics, even with regards to his numbers.

Some have found Westbrook's triple-doubles disingenuous, and there's a real case to be made there. He clearly seeks them out, sometimes even leaving a defender to position himself for a rebound, especially so when just a few away from another triple-double.

It's complicated to determine the result of this. Videos have been made exposing this defender while sometimes Westbrook's man is left open for a shot. But there is another way to examine this as well backed by data.

Take that for data.

So basically when Westbrook gets a defensive rebound, the Thunder become the best offense in the NBA. There's more to it than that. All teams are much more efficient in transition, occurrences that usually come after defensive rebounds (also turnovers).

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Of course, this doesn't mean Westbrook should never defend his man and only try and get the rebound. The real takeaway here is that when these defensive rebounds happen organically — it cannot be forgotten that Westbrook is a great rebounder for a point guard — the Thunder benefit immensely.

Even if it's the case that Steven Adams will just commit to boxing out to allow this more often, as long as it's not costing the Thunder wide-open shots for their opponents or the rebounds to them, it looks as if this strategy is in the Thunder's best interest.

Westbrook will be the first to say that he does not care about numbers and only winning. While his actions say otherwise with regards to the first part, the latter does seem to remain truest of all. We'll see how that all goes in these playoffs starting today.