LOS ANGELES -- Russell Westbrook just knew something was up with the rim at Staples Center.
The basket seemed too low. The backboard seemed a little off. So he stopped the game and asked them to measure. A stadium worker climbed up a ladder, took out a level, snapped a picture and pronounced everything was in order.
"It was lopsided," Westbrook said. "At least I thought. But it don't matter."
But whatever didn't show up on that level certainly showed up in Westbrook's performance. Because Westbrook caught fire in the second half, scoring 25 of his game-high 40 points to lead the Houston Rockets to a comeback 122-117 win over the LA Clippers on Thursday night.
In the latest contentious game involving the Clippers and Rockets -- this time Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley were ejected for arguing calls with the officials -- Westbrook continued to look more and more comfortable orbiting alongside the offensive comet that is James Harden.
"Russ was Russ. He had that attack mentality," Clippers small forward Paul George said. "I almost thought he was ultra-aggressive with Harden struggling. He made some big shots, some big 3s. He was just timely. I thought Russ changed the game, playing with his tempo and his speed."
Westbrook led Houston's second straight double-digit comeback by blitzing through and past LA's normally stout defense. Houston outscored LA 36-18 in the third quarter alone, keyed by a 14-2 run in which all seven field goals were scored in the paint.
The Rockets rallied from a 25-point deficit Monday night at home against the San Antonio Spurs. They trailed by as many as 17 against the Clippers.
LA was in total control in the first half and led the Rockets 77-61 with 9:03 left in the third quarter. But in the last 21 minutes of the game, Westbrook and Harden outscored the entire LA team 43-40.
The Clippers rallied to take back the lead in the fourth quarter after trailing by as many as a dozen points; George blocked a Westbrook layup with 5:10 to play and Kawhi Leonard hit a jumper over PJ Tucker to put the Clippers up 111-105. LA blew a double-digit first-half lead against the Rockets only to come back from a double-digit second-half deficit to win at home in November.
But Houston would not be denied this time, finishing on a 15-4 run to close out a game that featured 14 lead changes and seven ties.
It was the latest chapter in the festering rivalry between the two teams, which feature four of the Los Angeles area's native sons. George, Leonard, Westbrook and Harden each grew up in the Los Angeles area at a time when Kobe Bryant was snarling over the NBA. Each young player studying his moves and his swagger, determined to play like him one day -- no matter how far away that seemed from their hometowns Palmdale (George), Moreno Valley (Leonard), Lawndale (Westbrook) and Artesia (Harden).
"This is deeper than basketball," George said. "We're all SoCal kids. We've got a bunch a games under our belts, whether it's pickups or league games. It's always fun whenever we can match up against each other."
Russell Westbrook (Leuzinger)
Westbrook was the most unheralded of the four, famously not even making the varsity team at Leuzinger High in Lawndale until his junior year. But he's clearly starting to find his stride in Houston after an up-and-down start.
George knows his game well from the two seasons he played alongside him with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which ended with both players being traded this summer.
When Westbrook is rolling, George said, it looks as if he's playing with his hair on fire.
"That's how Russ plays," George said. "Russ is aggressive from start to finish. He pushed the tempo and he changed the game with how he started the third [quarter]."
The last time Houston came through Los Angeles was something of a referendum on Westbrook's failings as a shooter and responsible playmaker, as the Clippers trapped Harden relentlessly and forced the ball out of his hands.
But the Rockets don't need Westbrook to be a deadly shooter. They just need him playing downhill, slashing to the basket for the type of angry layups he has made a career off of. Thursday night, Westbrook scored 18 points in the paint and hit 12 of his 13 free throw attempts, which is also something of a turnaround for him. Westbrook has made 90.2% of his free throws in December after making only 72.2% in November.
James Harden (Artesia)
Harden, who played for the same Pump & Run AAU team in 2006 that George played for in 2007, finished with 28 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Most of that came in the second half after Beverley thoroughly frustrated him in the first half.
Harden had his second-lowest scoring output of the season in the first half, making just 1-of-2 shots and turning the ball over three times with Beverley as his primary defender. Once Westbrook got going in the second half however, Harden had room to operate.
Kawhi Leonard (King)
Leonard had 25 points, nine rebounds, and a steal. It looked as if Leonard would be the top performer early, as he was the first player in the game to reach double figures. Leonard's 11 first-quarter points led everyone, as he alternated 3s with dribble-heavy isolation midrangers.
But Leonard had four turnovers and only two made field goals in the second half with Tucker stepping up his defense on him.
"We didn't have any pace, really," Leonard said of the second-half downturn. "Just coming down, one-dribble shots, we didn't really run the offense. Just very slow."
Paul George (Knight)
On any other night, George would've been the star of the game. He hit 6-of-12 3-pointers, including back-to-back 3s in the fourth quarter to give the Clippers a 109-105 lead. On the next possession, George chased down Westbrook on a drive to the basket, blocked his layup, then fed the ball ahead to Leonard, who hit an 18-foot pull-up.
That's when Harden got going, scoring 10 points in the final 4:48 while the Clippers lost their composure, committing two costly turnovers and watched Beverley get ejected.
George finished with 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. George is now at 41% from 3 and 91.7% on free throws for the season, which are career highs.