Tuesday 17 December 2019 07:21, UK
Russell Westbrook said his team's heart was key after the Houston Rockets pulled off a franchise-record comeback win against the San Antonio Spurs.
Westbrook scored 31 points - 25 of which came in the first half - as the Rockets overcame a 25-point deficit to beat the San Antonio Spurs 109-107 on Tuesday night.
After helping to pull off the biggest comeback in franchise history, Westbrook was asked about the key to the Rockets' win. The star guard didn't speak for several seconds. He simply patted his chest several times.
Once he was ready to conduct his post-game interview on court, he said: "Just heart. Sometimes you have to take basketball out of it and just play. I thought we did that for 48 minutes. Some tough moments, but we stuck with it. We played ouR game, stuck with it defensively and we got the win."
He later told the Associated Press: "Sometimes you've got to want it more than the other team. It's that simple. No plays or no possessions or no shots can change that. My job is to do whatever this time needs, be it scoring or rebounding, to keep us in the game."
James Harden scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half to power the Rockets' fightback, having shot just 4-of-17 in the opening two quarters.
The game was tied with two-and-a-half minutes remaining when Houston's PJ Tucker hit a three-pointer from the corner. A lay-up by Rudy Gay got the Spurs within one with just under a minute left before Harden missed a triple on the other end.
A three-pointer by Bryn Forbes rolled on the rim before bouncing out, and Harden made two free throws to extend the lead to 109-106 with 16.2 seconds left.
Forbes missed another three-pointer with 10 seconds left, but the Spurs got the ball back when Clint Capela knocked the ball out of bounds while fighting for a rebound. The Rockets then intentionally fouled two times, and Derrick White made a free throw before purposely missing the second one with 2.7 seconds left. But Westbrook grabbed the rebound to secure the win.
"My confidence is never gone, no matter if I go 0-for-20 or whatever," Harden said. "I'm always going to shoot the ball and be aggressive. Early my shot wasn't falling… and then other guys stepped up."
The Spurs managed just 35 points after setting a season-high for first-half scoring. LaMarcus Aldridge led San Antonio with 19 points and 13 rebounds, and Forbes had 18 points.
"Some ways it is like your worst nightmare to go up 20 quickly because you know the thing is going to turn to some degree," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "So the way it was an even game down the stretch is pretty much what you'd expect most of the time."
Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan tried to explain how things went so wrong for the Spurs after the break.
"They just picked it up," he said. "We kind of slacked. It is always hard playing with a lead. Every single quarter, you have to play even harder, because nobody wants to get embarrassed."
Click the video at the top of the page to watch Russell Westbrook's best plays from his 31-point performance
