Los Angeles Lakers' Russell Westbrook on getting benched for OT - All that matters is we won

LOS ANGELES — For the second time this season, Russell Westbrook was benched by Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel to close out a game. Only this time, the Lakers won, beating the New York Knicks 122-115 in overtime on Saturday.

And the result made all the difference to Westbrook in accepting the decision.

«The best part of this game is that you win,» Westbrook said after scoring five points on 1-for-10 shooting with six assists and four turnovers in 29 minutes. «Guys competed. We won the game and that's all that matters.»

Vogel, who kept Westbrook on the bench for the first six minutes and 30 seconds of the fourth quarter as L.A. built a six-point lead after trailing by as many as 21 early in the game, decided to take Westbrook back out in OT after seeing how the point guard closed the fourth.

Westbrook scored zero points, missing his only field goal attempt and going 0-for-2 from the free throw line and didn't register any other statistics as the Knicks went on a 16-10 run to end regulation after he was subbed in to tie the game up. Vogel went with a lineup of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Malik Monk, Trevor Ariza and Talen Horton-Tucker in the extra session.

«That [fourth quarter] stretch was part of it,» Vogel said of his decision-making process. «I think obviously Russ was having a tough night on both sides of the ball and Bron was really going. So I knew the ball was going to be in Bron's hands and I felt like we were going to get more from a defensive perspective and off-ball action with Talen, so… You just make tough decisions in the spirit of whatever the team needs to win a game.»

Westbrook was good natured while meeting with reporters after the game and explained how the experience felt different than nine