HOUSTON (AP) – When J.J. Watt attended the Houston Rockets’ playoff game on Sunday night, he got a front-row view of Patrick Beverley’s intensity.
The Houston Texans star defensive end was taken aback when Beverley walked over to his courtside seat during a timeout and simply stood in front of him and stared for several seconds.
“I was like: ‘Pat, I don’t know what you want me to do here, man. I can’t really do anything,'” Watt said. “He’s just staring me down. And my girlfriend looked at me and she was like: ‘That was kind of cool and kind of awkward at the same time.’ I was like: ‘Yeah it was.’ I didn’t know what to do.”
Watt finally broke the stalemate by high-fiving the guard, a well-deserved acknowledgement on a night when Beverley scored a playoff career-high 21 points with 10 rebounds and slowed Russell Westbrook with his defense to help Houston rout Oklahoma City 118-87 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
“The guy was just absolutely killing it,” Watt said. “His intensity is the best. I was setting there on the sidelines getting fired up, wanting to get in the game.”