Russell Westbrook is crazy.
With the Oklahoma City Thunder leading by only two with 11.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter of a wild road game against the Toronto Raptors, Westbrook had the ball and was looking to make a play.
He received two ball screens and found himself around the elbow — his favorite area on the court — and banked in a shot to give the Thunder a four-point lead. Oh, and he was also fouled and made the free throw.
That shot effectively iced the game for the Thunder, who also had Westbrook record his fifth consecutive triple-double of the season and 23rd for the year.
Moments later, a couple of the Raptors players were ejected, and the Thunder made some free throws to add insult to injury. It was an important game for the Thunder to win because of their position in the Western Conference playoff race.
Westbrook finished with 37 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds — a monster line from the reigning MVP of the league. Many on Twitter were saying it could be the best game of the season for Westbrook.
Westbrook is not far off from averaging a triple-double for the second consecutive season. Coming into Sunday's game, he was averaging 25.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game, per Basketball-Reference.
Is Westbrook aware of how close he is to this feat with only about 14 games left in the season? Can he be trying to not only win every game for the Thunder, but also get the triple-double average? He would become the only player ever to do it in two seasons, and obviously the first ever to do it in back-to-back seasons.
No one would blame him if he was padding some stats a little bit, especially the rebounding ones. But the Thunder have needed these types of performances from him this year, and they'll have to continue getting them if they want a shot at the title.
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