LeBron James entered the record books with his first career Triple-Double as the Cleveland Cavaliers saw off the Trail Blazers 107-101 in Portland.

I saw this in the BBC netball reports and have looked the phrase up and kind of understand. Why is it a triple-double though? Why not just a triple? Does a single-double exist? What is the double word being used to mean?

I've never heard the term before, so I looked it up. Wikipedia says

quote:

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A triple-double is a basketball term, defined as an individual performance in a game in which at least 10 of the following are accumulated in three of the categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The "easiest" way for a player to achieve a triple-double is by points, rebounds, and assists, though elite defensive players occasionally achieve 10 steals or blocked shots in a game.

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I read that first sentence several times and couldn't understand it. Then I looked at the definitions for double-double and Quadruple-double and I think I know what it means. I think the sentence is trying to say a player must make at least ten (double-digit number) in any three of the following categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. Is that first sentence poorly-written or am I just dense?

Tinman

Tinman, I found the sentence completely logical, but then I am a real basketball fan. If it were about football, I am sure I wouldn't have understood it!

Triple doubles are just as Tinman says: A player gets at least 10 (the double part) in 3 different categories; that usually is at least 10 points, 10 assists (passing the basket to someone who then makes it), and 10 rebounds (grabbing the ball when someone misses the basket). As the Wikepedia said, there are other categories, but those 3 are the most common. Also, it is a measure of an elite player, again as noted. My son says that Michael Jordan didn't get a lot of triple doubles because he was mostly a point person. However, he says Oscar Robinson averaged a triple double.

There are double doubles, though they aren't quite as elite because it is much easier to achieve. You are focusing only in 2 areas.

A single double? No, that doesn't exist. That would just mean getting at least 10 points or 10 rebounds, etc. That, in itself, is no big achievement for the NBA.

The confusing part about the sentence was that "following" and "categories" referred to the same thing. I expected them to refer to different things. Since the "following" was "points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots," I wondered what the "categories" were. Only by reading the definitions for double-double and quadruple-double, which I found much clearer, was I able to figure out what the sentence meant.

Tinman

Tinman, I agree with you that the sentence is incredibly awkward. I think the only reason I understood it was because I knew what the phrase meant. Even then, I thought "10 of the following" was ambiguous. I had to think for minute because I had wondered why they didn't just say "10 points." Then I realized that "assists," for example, weren't points! I think it would have been much more clear to people who had never heard of the phrase to say that the player needs to get, in 3 of the following categories, at least:

10 points
10 rebounds
10 assists
10 blocks
10 steals
There maybe should have been a comment about the triple meaning to accomplish the task in 3 categories, while the double meant that the points, rebounds, etc. were at least 10, thus having double digits. I think there was a lot of assuming in that definition.
Would that have been more clear?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Thanks: I didn't understand the double bit: Wilkipedia went to great lengths explain the triple, quadruple, quintuple, etc bit, but left out half of the explanation.