Over the past few seasons, life without Nikola Jokic has been extremely difficult for the Denver Nuggets. But with Jokic out for the third consecutive game due to personal reasons, the Nuggets will have to dig deep within themselves if they were to keep their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals of the NBA Cup alive.

And on Tuesday night, they got good performances from multiple players in their 122-110 win over the Memphis Grizzlies — with future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook making history in the process.

Thrust into a larger overall role with Jokic out, Westbrook delivered a vintage stat-sheet stuffing game. The Nuggets guard tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 14 assists for his first triple-double of the season. This gives him 200 triple-doubles for his career, making him the first player in NBA history to reach the 200 triple-double mark, as noted by StatMuse on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Westbrook was already the all-time leader in triple-doubles (he has owned this distinction since 2021, when he tallied the 182nd triple-double of his career back when he was with the Washington Wizards), and this only increases the gap between him and the number two player on the all-time rankings (Oscar Robertson with 181).

After losing two straight games without Jokic, the Nuggets needed a huge boost of energy on Tuesday to go back to winning ways. If Westbrook offers anything, it’s hustle, hard work, and an unquenchable competitive spirit. As long as he doesn’t overdo it, games like the one he played on Tuesday indicate that he still has a lot of energy left in him, even though he may not be the player he was in his heyday.