I think about Jay-Z’s verse from the song “Monster” a lot.
The song — detailing a sense of narcissism and cockiness from some of the biggest names in rap — is insanely fun, with brilliant witticisms and enough bass to blow out your car stereo. Beyoncé’s husband’s section is terrible. It’s bad by comparison to Kanye West, Rick Ross and Nicki Minaj’s hall-of-fame verse. It’s also straight trash.
He literally begins his verse just naming types of monsters.
“Sasquatch, Godzilla, King Kong, Loch Ness Goblin, ghoul, a zombie with no conscience.”
He did forget one monster though. He forgot Russell Westbrook.
A quick Googling will show Westbrook is the starting point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Giving him a position seems ludicrous. No. 0 somehow simultaneously plays all of the positions and none of them at the same time.
The team is fine, 14-8, winning when expected to and losing to the legitimately good team, but none of that truly matters. All that matters is Westbrook is currently doing something that has only been done once before and in a NBA-landscape that looks nothing like today’s.
In the 1961-62 season, Oscar Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game. This is called a triple-double. It’s also called insane, and was done in a league where there were nine teams. To do it in today’s NBA is almost impossible, especially with the influx in rest for players and deeper lineups. In his heralded season, Robertson played 44.3 minutes per game.
In less than 36 minutes per game, point god Westbrook has been accomplishing the same near-impossible task with 31 points, 11.3 assists and 10.9 rebounds. Those are real numbers; I’m not really sure how but they are.
After beating the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night, he put up another triple-double Monday, notching his sixth in as many games. This is the first time a player has had six straight since Michael Jordan did so in 1989.
What makes this run by the Thunder star so impressive is these aren’t needless numbers. There were times last season when Warrior Steph Curry would put on a show when his team would be up big in the fourth quarter. The stats counted, but they didn’t really affect the game.
Westbrook’s team is fine and all. Hoosier Victor Oladipo, guy with mustache Steven Adams and other guy with mustache Enes Kanter are serviceable starters, however, this team is at the bottom of the league without Westbrook. With him, they are a playoff squad.
After losing superstar Kevin Durant, an onus was placed on Westbrook to do everything. It seemed like a foolish wager, betting on a 6-foot-3 guard with previous injuries to take on the entire burden. Westbrook didn’t and doesn’t care.
It’s stupid to say one player cares more than another, but Westbrook cares more about every play than anyone else wearing an NBA jersey this season.
We don’t know if he can keep this up. History says he can’t, which is what makes this so special. Westbrook isn’t only playing against other players; he’s playing against the entire sport of basketball.
And he’s winning.
gigottfr@indiana.edu
@gott31
