Bruce Brown, with his 19/10/8 statline, was a mere two assists away from a triple-double. If he had somehow gotten two more assists in the overtime period, would it have been the most unlikely triple-double this season?
Really, the only players to get triple-doubles this season that I would put on the same level of unlikeliness are Markelle Fultz and Shabazz Napier. Even Fultz is a stretch because he was, at one point, an extremely hyped point guard prospect. The fact that he got a triple-double wouldn’t be surprising except for the fact that his career started off in such a weird way. And, now that I think about it, Napier was also somewhat hyped as a point guard prospect coming out of college thanks to his tournament success and the fact that LeBron was a fan. Bruce Brown, meanwhile, had no hype anywhere that I can detect.
It’s a moot point because Brown never did get those two extra assists, so Napier’s triple-double stands as the unlikeliest of the season. Nevertheless, Brown’s strong play in this one was directly responsible for the Pistons coming back from an early 7 to 28 deficit. His rapid development into a scoring and playmaking threat has been one of the only good things to happen to the Pistons this season. That, and Andre Drummond getting traded two days from now so that they don’t accidentally try to compete for a playoff spot anymore.