If you want, you can add these words to the video title, before the “14 points” but after the “Cody Zeller”: “Triple Double”.
Zeller had the 14 points, he had the 12 rebounds, but those assists. 8 assists, combined with the aforementioned statisticals, does not normally qualify a performance for being a triple double. But this is Zeller we’re talking about here. He can pass a little bit, but this is his career-high in assists. Him getting this many is like Chris Paul breaking Scott Skiles’ single-game assist record. So why aren’t we allowed to say that this is a triple double? It seems like he should be rewarded for his stellar play, and just a plain old double-double doesn’t capture the Jokic-esque passing he displayed.
On the back of Zeller’s strong first half play, where it looked like he would easily cruise to the coveted trip-dub, the Hornets took a commanding lead against the Spurs. Sadly, things really fell apart in the second half, to the point where it was the Hornets getting totally blown out. Popovich is a horrible coach who is totally overrated because he got gifted a bunch of superstars for their entire careers, but it looks like he might have made some adjustment to stop Zeller from kicking their butts. That’s still a win for Zeller, though, playing so well that another team has to make changes.