Russell Westbrook has made plenty of history throughout his career for all of the triple-doubles he's racked up, but he's never had one like his performance on Tuesday night.
Westbrook finished with 20 points, 20 rebounds and 21 assists in a 119-103 Oklahoma City Thunder's victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. His "double triple-double," if you want to call it that, was just the second such game in NBA history. Only Wilt Chamberlain -- of course -- had put up a 20-20-20 line before.
Chamberlain, in case you were wondering, put up 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists in a win over the Detroit Pistons in 1968.
After grabbing his 20th rebound in the closing seconds, Westbrook turned to the crowd and exclaimed, "That's for Nipsey." During his postgame interview with TNT, Westbrook gave a further tribute to rapper Nipsey Hussle, who was murdered in Westbrook's native Los Angeles over the weekend.
Just a few years ago, Hussle showed up to Westbrook's annual Thanksgiving dinner event to help feed people in the Los Angeles area.
While the focus of Tuesday night's game was understandably on Westbrook's historic performance, and his tribute to the slain rapper and community activist, it was an important victory for the Thunder.
Currently in eighth place in the Western Conference, they're in need of every win they can get in order to try and move up and avoid a first-round matchup with the Golden State Warriors.
