LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Russell Westbrook has a slice of NBA history in his sights, but his 40th triple-double of the season on Sunday didn’t translate into a win for his Oklahoma City Thunder.
Westbrook scored 40 points, pulled down 13 rebounds and handed out 10 assists in the 113-101 home loss to the Charlotte Hornets.
The Thunder guard is now one triple-double away from tying Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson’s single-season record of 41, set in 1961-62 for the Cincinnati Royals.
With six games left in the regular season, Westbrook can match the record when the Thunder host the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.
It was Westbrook’s first career triple-double against the Hornets. The only team left in the league that he has never posted a triple-double against is the Chicago Bulls.
The season’s top scorer notched his sixth straight triple-double, and his fifth straight featuring 30 or more points.
But the playoff-bound Thunder endured a second straight defeat, and that was more on Westbrook’s mind than the triple-double record.
“We’ve got to win,” Westbrook said. “That’s my thoughts.”
Oklahoma City authored an 11-1 scoring run to trim the Hornets’ lead to 102-91 with less than five minutes to play.
Charlotte’s Cody Zeller converted a three-point play to slow the Thunder’s surge and they wouldn’t get the gap below 11 points from there.
“We were just making bad mistakes, bad decisions,” Westbrook said after a game that saw the Thunder hand over 24 turnovers. “Starting with myself, we have to take better care of the ball.”