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What is the Triple Double in Basketball?

To achieve a triple-double, a player has to record a double-digit total in three categories: in points, total rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Know more about what is triple double and how it is achieved.

Ankit Kanaujia
Last updated: 04.12.2020
What is the Triple Double in Basketball | Sports Social Blog

Basketball, also referred to as hoops, is a sport where two teams compete with each other, consisting of five players( five in each team). Both teams compete with one another on a rectangular court.

 

The primary objective of both the team is to of shoot a basketball (that is 24 cm in diameter or 9.4inches in diameter) through the hoop of the defender team (a basket of approximately 18 inches or 46 cm in diameter mounted 10 feet or 3.048 m high from each corner of height) while stopping the opposite team from shooting through their own hoop.

 

The field goal worth two points, unless made from behind the three-point line, when it is worth three. Someone ended up with the foul, timed play stops, and the player who committed the foul or designated a technical foul is awarded one or more one-point free throws.

 

The team that manages to secure the highest point is considered as the winning team. But if the match ends up with equal points, then additional time is given to get to the good result, which is called overtime.


What is Triple Double In Basketball?


To achieve a triple-double, a player has to record a double-digit total in three categories: in points, total rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks.


Examples Of Triple Double In Basketball Used In Commentary


Such as Carmelo Anthony finished the game with the first triple-double of his career. He ends up his night with 25 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists.


How Rare Are Triple Doubles?


We all know that triple-doubles are challenging to accomplish, but they are not as rare as you think. In today’s game, triple-doubles are achieved almost in every season. However, they aren’t achieved regularly. These days Russell Westbrook and James Harden have also achieved this statistical feat night-in and night-out. These days triple-doubles are scored regularly in the NBA season. Also, some teams can go a whole season without having a player achieve this.


Do Turnovers Count Towards A Triple Double?

 

In simple words, turnovers do not contribute anything in triple-doubles. If a player manages to get double digits in turnovers and also manages to score double digits in other categories, including points and rebounds, then that player would not be credited with a triple-double.


Triple Double Records in Basketball

Triple doubles are the challenge that is listed in one of the most difficult milestones to achieve. But nowadays, we have seen many cases in which a player can achieve a triple-double in basketball; the most common arithmetical combination is when a player manages to score minimally 10 points, 10 rebounds, and the 10 assists during a single match. We can also see the example from history that sometimes even a player can score 10 blocks in a single game along with two other categories to record a triple-double.

Before the year 2016-2017, no other player except then Oscar Robinson had managed to score a triple-double during an entire NBA season. But the whole scenario changed in the 2016-2017 season when Russel Westbrook from Oklahoma City managed to score an average of 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4 assists for the year. During that time, it was only the second time in the history of the NBA season that a player ended up scoring a triple-double. The same figure had been accomplished by Robertson during the 1961-1962 season.


Triple Double in WNBA


At July 23 2018, seven triple-doubles were successful in the WNBA regular season :

 

  1. Sheryl Swoopes ( Houston Comets ) faced the Detroit Shock on July 27, 1999 with 14 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists.

  2. Małgorzata Dydek ( Utah Starzz ) faced the Orlando Miracle onJune 7, 2001 with 12 points, 11 rebounds, 10 blocks

  3. Lisa Leslie ( Los Angeles Sparks ) faced the Detroit Shock on September 9, 2004 with 29 points, 15 rebounds, 10 blocks.

  4. Deanna Nolan ( Detroit Shock ) faced the Connecticut Sun on May 21, 2005with 11 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists 16

  5. Sheryl Swoopes ( Houston Comets ) faced the Seattle Storm on September 3, 2015 with 14 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists 17 .

  6. Temeka Johnson ( Seattle Storm ) faced New York Liberty on July 24, 2014with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists 18 .

  7. Candace Parker ( Los Angeles Sparks ) vs. San Antonio Stars on July 28, 2017with 11 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists 19

  8. Courtney Vandersloot ( Chicago Sky ) against the Dallas Wings on July 21, 2018with 15 assists, 13 points and 10 rebounds 20

  9. Chelsea Gray ( Los Angeles Sparks ) faced the Washington Mystics on July 7, 2019 with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists 21 .

 

 

Triple Double in Euroleague

The Euroleague is the toughest inter-club competition of basketball in Europe. The games are played over 40 minutes, and the defense is more closed than in the NBA. Triple-doubles are, therefore, much rarer. However, several players managed to accomplished this milestone:

 

 

 

 

 

  • Derrick Phelps ( ALBA Berlin ) faced Iraklis in the 2000-2001 season with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

 

  • Nikola Vujčić ( Maccabi Tel-Aviv ) faced Prokom Trefl Sopot on November 3, 2005with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists 29 .

 

  • Nikola Vujčić (Maccabi Tel-Aviv) against Union Olimpija onNovember 30, 2006with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists 29 .

 

 

FAQ’s:

 

Q1. How common is a triple double in basketball?

 

Answer: A score in a basketball game of at least ten points, ten rebounds, and ten assists by a single player.

 

Q2: Has anyone in the NBA had a quadruple double?

 

Answer: Since Olajuwon's effort only one other player in NBA history has recorded a quadruple-double, with David Robinson achieving the feat in 1994.

 

Q3: What is a triple single NBA?

 

Answer: Unlike the triple-double in which a player records double figures in the three stat categories such that points, rebounds, assists, the triple-single requires only one figure in the above mentioned each category and is achieved by nearly all players in the league.


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