Clarkson was happy because he had 20 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in the game against the Mavericks on January 2.
After 10 years in the NBA, he had a triple-double for the first time.
Compared with honors such as championships, MVPs, and scoring champions, triple-doubles are nothing, but it does not prevent them from being used as a reference to measure whether a player is good or not.
Jokic and Doncic get triple-doubles every three or five times, which always makes people mistakenly think that this is not difficult, but it is not easy.
Throughout history, there have been many players who have not scored a triple-double, some players are not good in the first place, and some role players or fringe players have limited playing time and no room to play.
But in fact, there are a lot of big names who have not tasted a triple-double on the court, such as Manuginobili, Robert Horry, Kevin McHale, Moses Malone, James Worthy, Bill Ranbill, Joe Dumas, Kenny Smith, Steve Cole, Richard Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace, Alonzo Mourning, White Williams, Tony Allen, Artest, Sean Marion, Peja, Chris Bosh, Barbossa, Livingston...
Iverson is amazing, he only got a triple-double once in his life. Maddie is awesome, just four times. Carter has played for 20 years, and he has only played 5 times, which is enough to show how difficult it is to get a triple-double, and it is understandable why Ricky Davis had to throw and grab rebounds by himself when he got 28 points, 9 rebounds and 12 assists in the game that year, trying to make a triple-double by cheating?
After all, this kind of thing is really hard to come by, and sure enough, Ricky Davis has never scored a triple-double in his eleven years in the NBA.
Cheating is certainly not advisable, but it is a pity to play this kind of quasi-triple-double statistic, and it is enough for Ricky Davis to wake up in the middle of the night and cry for a while.
At this time, we must have to bring Larry Bird up again and poke Ricky Davis's heart, so that the juniors can see what it means to be chic, when he easily got a triple-double in a game, the victory was decided at the end of the game, he went to rest, someone reminded him that another steal is a four-double, Bird smiled slightly, roughly meaning, all of them are going to win, is there still a need to play?
It is also common to play a quasi-triple-double in the NBA, in November last year, the American media made statistics, and the number of times active players reached a triple-double with 1 assist were Jokic 30 times, James 29 times, Wei Shao 24 times, Brother Alphabet 20 times, Simmons 13 times, Doncic 11 times, Sabonis 11 times, Dream Green 10 times,
Fortunately, these players are good at getting triple-doubles, and they will be able to play back in the next minute.
Among the active players, including Mitchell, Zach LaVine, Hayward, Pu'er, Edwards, Gobert, Booker, Klay Thompson, Markkanen and other All-Star level players, still haven't broken a triple-double in the regular season.
And the Jazz team currently has only Larkson getting a triple-double, which should be the team with the least number of triple-doubles and the least number of people in the league, and the Clippers immediately became a triple-double because of Wei Shao and Harden.
Wei Shao and Harden are not only ranked first in the active ranking, but also the absolute best in the all-time rankings, with 198 triple-doubles ranking first in active and NBA history, and Harden ranking fourth in active duty and eighth in history with 74 times, behind Jokic (116) and James (109).
So far this season, three Europeans, Jokic, Sabonis and Doncic, lead the triple-double rankings.
It's not hard to come up with a pattern to explain why some players always miss out on a triple-double.
Some players are functional, or specialize in projection or rebounding, and naturally miss a triple-double; There is also a category of small guard players, who are limited by height and are not able to do anything, and it is difficult to play in rebounds and blocks in the five major items of scoring, rebounding, assisting, blocking, and stealing, and it is difficult to get a double-double, so it is natural to miss a triple-double; There is also a category of players who belong to the system, who are more Buddhist, who don't care about the data at all, and it doesn't matter if they get a triple-double or not.
Of course, it also has a lot to do with the style of play, if the style of play is "alone", Xi scoring big packages, naturally can not be average in the data, Jordan Bryant is the same, they got triple-doubles 28 times and 21 times.
A little clue can also be seen from the position of the players in the historical rankings, the triple-double prefers those players with more comprehensive skills, who can score, pass and grab rebounds, such as Jokic, Sabonis, Brother Alphabet, Larry Bird, James are all of this type,
Magic Johnson, Ben Simmons, Doncic Although they are called guards, they have forward height, yes, height is self-evident in the importance of getting a triple-double, although Westbrook is only 191 cm tall, but the victory is in the explosion of physical fitness, of course, his Thunder teammates also helped him a lot to grab rebounds,
Kidd, who plays playmaking guard, is good at assists, and although he is 194 tall, he also grabbed 8,725 rebounds, ranking 60th in NBA history, and the top 59 are all taller than him.
The current triple-double ranking in the NBA
But the demon guard Rondo is an outlier, only 185 centimeters tall, and can often play bewitching statistics, and during his time with the Celtics, he had a triple-double of 17 points, 18 rebounds and 20 assists.
Barria also had a dumpling meal and got 25 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists, but this was the only triple-double in his career, and it was wishful thinking to maintain the consistency and stability of a triple-double with a height of less than 180 cm.
Although a triple-double is hard to find, those good players can still take care of scoring, rebounding, and assists most of the time, but double-doubles in blocks and steals are even more unattainable and very rare.
On October 18, 1974, Chicago Bulls center Nate Semimond had 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists and 12 blocks, Bynum also had 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 blocks, and Ibaka had a triple-double of 14 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks, but responsibly speaking, this kind of data may be the same once in a lifetime.
As for steals, it's quite difficult, Pacers guard McConnell has three triple-doubles in his career, including one steal double-double, 16 points, 13 assists and 10 steals.
This kind of triple-double, although uncommon, at least within the normal range, Sabonis's 23 points, 18 rebounds and 11 turnovers is a bit laughable.
Of course, when it comes to triple-doubles, you can't bypass the absolute grandmaster-level triple-double god Oscar Robertson, who has 181 triple-doubles in his career.
There is a lot of respect for the older generation of stars, he is the greatest star before Michael Jordan, the greatest point guard, he has made countless achievements on the court, like a monument, for him the great achievement of the triple-double is only a small part of his magnificent chapter, but in fact enough to make countless generations look up to it.
Oscar was simply born for a triple-double, and the racial discrimination in the era when he played was particularly serious, coupled with the poverty of his family, stimulated him to play the court.
He is always holding back his energy on the court, like obsessive-compulsive disorder, demanding that he must score every shot, and once he misses, the coach's scolding on the sidelines feels like he is going to be eaten alive.
He has a good body, 196 cm tall and weighs 93 kg.
Holding his head high when dribbling to prevent opponents from stealing, and using one hand to control the ball and the other hand to direct teammates to run is a style of ball control that almost all playmaking guards do today, but it was unique at the time.
When contemporaries mentioned him, they were all impressed by his full strength, fast speed, good bounce, full strength, and omnipotence, so it was not surprising to get a triple-double per game, but at that time there were no detailed statistical means.
And he himself said in his later years, he didn't care much about the data when he played, that is, he scored when he should score, and grabbed rebounds when he should grab rebounds, but he only found out after the game that everything was done well.
The old man has been humble all his life, not only is it good, it is simply perfect, so perfect that all future generations are trying to surpass him but find it extremely difficult.
Even if Westbrook has surpassed him to become the all-time number one triple-double list, you must know that the technical statistics of the Oscar era are far stricter than now, and there are many omissions about his triple-double statistics, so it is not too much to say that Big O is the first person in history to have a triple-double.
What's more, how many people can average a triple-double per game, and it has been for many consecutive seasons?
In his rookie season, he averaged 30.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game.
He averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game in 1961-62, which is widely regarded as the hardest record in basketball history to break.
In the 1962-63 season, he averaged 28.3 points, 10.4 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game.
In the 1963-64 season, he averaged 31.4 points, 9.9 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game.
Doncic's two 35+15+15 triple-doubles are already appalling, but Oscar has done it five times.
Injuries in his twilight years have reduced his scoring ability, but in the season when Oscar retired, he still scored two triple-doubles.
In short, the triple-double lasted his entire career and was the greatest embellishment of his illustrious basketball career.
In short, Oscar Robertson provides us with the best template for a great all-rounder to get a triple-double, with the combination of physical strength, height, running and jumping ability, skill, and awareness, which is enough to ensure that he is invincible in getting a triple-double, and has set a record that countless junior players may not be able to surpass.
But whether he himself feels the meaning behind those statistics, he can only think that it just represents the duty of a professional footballer.