NBA scores 2018: Nikola Jokic breaks an ‘unbreakable’ record, and 6 more things from Thursday

I really thought no one would ever break the triple-double record, but Nikola Jokic just did.

The record was 17 minutes, more or less. We don’t know exactly, because Jim Tucker did it in 1955, about 63 years ago. They didn’t track it down to the second, but the official NBA record book says 17 minutes, so you can bet that it’s reliable. Up until Thursday, it was the quickest that anyone had ever recorded a triple-double. Then Jokic did it nearly two-and-a-half minutes quicker.

The official record: 14 minutes, 33 seconds. That’s how quickly Jokic did it, with 1:54 left in the second quarter in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks. That’s just absurd — even more absurd than Jokic’s final line, which is also absurd: 30 points, 15 rebounds, 17 assists, and a couple of blocks for good measure.

In 2016, Russell Westbrook made headlines for recording a triple-double in 19 minutes — the fastest in 50 years, headlines blared. It was an impossibly quick triple-double, one of two that he has completed in just one half, as this graphic shows:

But Westbrook didn’t even approach Tucker’s record at 17 minutes. Westbrook, who had the most triple-doubles in a season and became the only other player to average one in a season besides Oscar Robertson, couldn’t break the triple-double. Mr. Triple-Double broke so many triple-double records, but he couldn’t break that one.

It might actually be unbreakable. If an NBA record from the 1950s is still standing, it usually means that it’s unbreakable. It’s one of those records that still stands only because the league is so different now. The modern NBA functions so radically different from an era that predates even Wilt Chamberlain.

And then Jokic broke it on Thursday, so to hell with what I know.

Fourteen minutes and 33 seconds. I won’t say unbreakable, because my hubris has been quelled. But I bet that one is going to stand for a long while.

Please click through here and enjoy the history of the baseline, behind-the-back, no-look pass. That is indisputably the best pass in the NBA.

Late in the Lakers-Timberwolves game, Butler did this:

A flying swat on Julius Randle, then a weak-side rejection against Isaiah Thomas, all within a seven-second span. It was a six-point game at that time. Butler’s swats were very necessary to preserve the eventual win.

Rest in peace, coach.

If you read anything about his life, I’d highly recommend this Canis Hoopus article.

Nuggets 134, Bucks 123 (Denver Stiffs recap | Brew Hoop recap)

Timberwolves 119, Lakers 111 (Canis Hoopus recap | Silver Screen & Roll recap)