Dwight Howard: 'I played as hard as I could'

Dwight Howard has admitted that he played as hard as possible while struggling with a knee injury during the Houston Rockets' loss to the Golden State Warriors.

The center sprained his knee in the first meeting of the Western Conference finals, but added 19 points in 40 minutes in the 99-98 defeat in game two.

The 29-year-old told ESPN: "I just tried to play as hard as I could. I didn't think about it at all. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. I just went out there and gave my teammates all that I could give them despite what happened with my knee."

The Rockets are 2-0 down in the series ahead of game three at the Toyota Center on Saturday.