The triple-double has led to comical moments involving JaVale McGee and Ricky Davis, and other moments that have just been depressing, like the time Anthony Bowie called a timeout so he could draw up a play to get that elusive 10th assist.
Still, the triple-double captures the attention of many fans, who will probably consider it heresy to say that Rajon Rondo's mere double-double in Sunday's Game 4 win over the Hawks was more impressive than his triple-double in Game 3. They are probably already grabbing their pitchforks and forming a mob as we speak.
As vital as Rondo's 17-point, 14-rebound, 12-assist performance was on Friday, his 20-point, 16-assist outing on Sunday may have trumped it. Just ask Celtics head coach Doc Rivers.
"We had a lot of stuff going on," Rivers said following Boston's 101-79 win. "You may not have noticed, but we had a lot of things going on with the bodies on our bench. I mean, [Mickael Pietrus'] hamstring, Avery [Bradley's] shoulder, Paul [Pierce]'s knee, Ray [Allen]'s foot. The whole game you just kept looking down there like, was there enough guys to put in the game?"
It helped that the Celtics who were healthy were red hot, shooting more than 51 percent from the field. All Rondo had to do was not get in the way, and that may have been the most impressive thing of all.
Rondo still occasionally struggles with when to be aggressive and when to simply let the offense run. He wrestled with that again in Game 3, when he seemed destined for a quadruple-double of points, rebounds, assists and turnovers.
He struck the ideal balance in Game 4, playing turnover-free for more than three quarters before he lost the ball on a bad pass just over a minute into the final quarter. Even his two 3-pointers came within the natural flow of the offense, although his three rebounds left him far short of a second straight triple-double.
"I just wanted to come out with the right mindset and play the right way, get my teammates involved," Rondo said. "I made a couple passes and got them easy looks, and got them in a rhythm. The coach kept telling me to stay aggressive and just try to shoot the ball, and they went in."
When Rondo's style needs to be described in shorthand, his seven career playoff triple-doubles are an easy go-to. That number helps explain the many ways Rondo can affect the game, but the performances that truly encapsulate his skills — and that reveal his prime value to the team — are the ones like Sunday's.
There is no cute statistical name for what Rondo did Sunday, which probably was appropriate given that for much of the game, his play defied description.
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