Entering Sunday night's home Game 4 against the Los Angeles Lakers, the Houston Rockets looked like they were dead in the water. Already facing a dreaded 3-0 deficit in their first-round series, the Rockets had no margin for error. It was put-up-or-shut-up time. To make matters worse, they were without the team's leading perimeter scorer, Kevin Durant, who may or may not return to their lineup this postseason as he recovers from a bone bruise.
Someone had to step up in Houston. Someone had to lead and galvanize their teammates.
According to guard Amen Thompson, the person who stepped up was All-Star center Alperen Şengün. Thompson said Şengün delivered an unorthodox motivational speech to the entire team on the morning of Game 4. Whatever Şengün said appeared to work with flying colors as the Rockets blew the Lakers out 115-96 in a balanced effort to cut Los Angeles' series lead to 3-1 and keep their season alive:
"Alpi gave us a motivational speech this morning and we took that, and we ran with it."Amen credits Sengun's motivational words from this morning after Houston's big Game 4 win! https://t.co/IiXt6wJoIV pic.twitter.com/Tw9qRRqIoG
In his postgame press conference, Şengün was asked about his speech and why he felt the need to address his teammates in this way. His rationale was pretty simple: Whatever the Rockets were doing that put them in a 3-0 series hole wasn't working. Someone had to change things up. Someone had to do something different.
"I just wanted to do something different... I'm glad it worked."Sengun on the motivational speech he delivered to the team this morning 👏Rockets win Game 4 to keep their season alive! https://t.co/fFt7nGxanc pic.twitter.com/0tiXV0ybLu
In the entire history of the NBA, no team facing a 3-0 deficit has ever come back to win that playoff series. For all intents and purposes, it's a basically insurmountable task. Well, only if you treat it that way. For at least one game, the Rockets got up off the mat and showed some fight. To do what no NBA team has ever done, they'll have to keep up such energy for three more games with little to no mistakes.
Game 5 between the Rockets and Lakers is in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. We'll see whether Şengün helps keep his teammates on a track toward history.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Alperen Şengün shared fiery speech to push Rockets to Game 4 blowout