Draymond Green made NBA history Friday night in Memphis, becoming the first player to post a triple-double with fewer than 10 points in the Golden State Warriors’ 122-107 victory over the Grizzlies.
Green scored only four points but finished with 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals, part of a Warriors defense that forced 19 Memphis turnovers. He took just six shots.
“I’ve got to bring it on the defensive end,” Green told reporters after the game. “A lot of guys on this team can score. We don’t need me to score.”
The only other player in NBA history to officially register a triple-double that included steals was San Antonio’s Alvin Robertson, who posted the rare quadruple-double against Phoenix on Feb. 18, 1986 (20 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals).
Green was one steal away from tying the NBA record of 11.
Draymond Green is 1 shy of tying the NBA record for steals in a game (11). Entering tonight, list of players with 10+ steals in a game: pic.twitter.com/o3WW5WdoQp
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) February 11, 2017
Green, who has finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting the past two seasons, also had five blocks on the night for good measure. He’s the first player in NBA history with 10 steals and five blocks in a game since the 1973-74 season, when those became official statistics.
And it’s not the first time Green has compiled at least five rebounds, assists, blocks and steals in a game. Only eight other players have accomplished that feat since the 1985-86 season.
It was Green’s 18th career triple-double in his fifth season and the Warriors are 18-0 in games he records a triple-double.
