ESPN Stats & Information 9y

Harden, Cousins, Westbrook, Turner, Paul: What a night!

Wednesday was a night of statistical nuttiness in the NBA. Let’s recap:

James Harden and DeMarcus Cousins staged an epic duel, with Harden’s Rockets edging Cousins’ Kings.

Harden finished with a career-high 51 points. He’s the first player in Rockets history with a pair of 50-point games in a season and the fourth Rockets player to have two in a career. The other three -- Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Moses Malone -- are all members of the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Harden’s game was made possible by his shooting 8-of-9 from 3-point range. The Rockets attempted 40 3-pointers in a game for the 12th time this season. Only six other teams have had one such game this season.

Cousins had 24 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists. The Elias Sports Bureau noted it marked the first time a player had 50 points and an opposing player had a triple-double in the same game since Feb. 15, 2006, when LeBron James had a triple-double for the Cavaliers and Paul Pierce scored 50 points for the Celtics.

And it’s the first time in NBA history in which one player scored 50 points and an opponent had some combination of 20, 20 and 10.

You might think that a 20-20 game is a positive indicator as it relates to winning.

Not in 2014-15.

Teams whose players record a 20-20 game are a combined 6-10. The Kings are 0-3 when Cousins has a 20-20 game this season.

Cousins was literally a one-man leadership team. He led the team or was tied for the team lead in 13 different box score stats -- points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, turnovers, fouls, minutes, defensive rebounds, field goals, free throws, field goal attempts and free throw attempts.

Elsewhere, Russell Westbrook notched his 10th triple-double (you might recall he had what was thought to be his 10th taken away by NBA video review after the fact) in a loss to the Mavericks.

In the past 30 seasons, five guards have had at least one season in which they recorded 10 or more triple-doubles -- Magic Johnson (five times), Michael Jordan (once), Lafayette Lever (twice), Jason Kidd (twice) and now Westbrook.

Westbrook has eight triple-doubles since the All-Star Break. Elias notes the only players with more after an All-Star Break in the past 40 years are Michael Jordan (12 in 1988-89) and Grant Hill (nine in 1996-97).

The player with the next-most triple-doubles since this year’s All-Star Break is Evan Turner, who notched his third in a win for the Celtics.

Turner has three triple-doubles in his past 21 games. He had none in the first 360 games of his NBA career.

Turner joined an illustrious list of Celtics to record three triple-doubles in the same season. Elias notes that those are: John Havlicek, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy (each with multiple such seasons), Larry Bird, Antoine Walker, Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce.

It's the first time since Feb. 28, 2003, that three players had triple-doubles on the same day (the three that day were Jason Terry, Ray Allen and Latrell Sprewell).

Lastly, Chris Paul had 41 points and 17 assists for the Clippers in their comeback win over the Trail Blazers. Paul is one of three players to have 40 points, 15 assists and one turnover or fewer since turnovers were first recorded in 1970-71. The others, as noted by Elias, are Pete Maravich and Allen Iverson.

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