The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Ime Udoka Joins as Rockets Look to Extend Their 3-Game Win Streak

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Head Coach Ime Udoka Joins as Rockets Look to Extend Their 3-Game Win Streak 

All right, it's Matt with E012. Fresh off the basketball practice court. Joining us now for his weekly visit. E. May Adoka, head coach of your Rockets beat the Pacers last night. Three straight wins. E. May, first of all, good afternoon. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Tell me how your two big men are feeling right now.

Outbring is better, much, much better. Went through a good workout. today, feeling much better. So I'd say he's probable for the game. I'm hoping to have him back 90%-ish, I guess. And Stephen had a little swelling, a little stiffness, but felt better after the game with some treatment last night. So hopefully having back as well, but we'll know a little bit more how he feels tomorrow.

Did Stephen happen, heard on one particular player? Was it just the progression of him playing minutes? Oh, he rolled it on a play. He fell over. I don't know if you remember that in the third. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. hell over with somebody and yeah he basically tweaked his right ankle there didn't land on a foot or anything but it was wrestling with somebody and it just rolled over email why would any

grown man want to wrestle with stephen adams i mean every time he goes down on the ground i feel like the other guy's body's going to break into like 15 pieces oh yeah i mean he got the first two or three offense rebounds of the game and they sub some guys out to come in and box them out and they couldn't either so eventually you're going to have to tackle him and that's what happened on the tackle all right so let's get to it first of all you won. The game was comfortable for three quarters. It kind of got kind of weird in the fourth, but we wouldn't bring that up. They were

the worst three-point shooting team in the NBA. They were making a boatload of them. That had to shock you a little bit. And then the turnover count started to get high on the rocket side, too. But other than that, it was a Dominique performance by Durant. You got Jabari Smith doing his thing. You got a man Thompson. So you were able to

withstand missing out before a couple of games to get some nice victory still despite the absence. Yeah, I think, you know, Some guys that normally don't make shots, make shots, and we're willing to live with those. And so we know those percentages will come back to Earth eventually. And for us, it was really stay the course, take away what we wanted to,

make it tough on other guys. And those, like I said, in the second half, the numbers dropped from three-point percentage. And we did a lot of good things, guarded at a high level overall. I think offensive we've been sharp, and our spacing and attacks have been really good. And so that's the result you get in these last three games, is a really good defense on point decisive crisp offense and comfortable wins you know i think kevin's been a 50 40 90 guy for much of his life uh field goal free throw three point percentage

it feels like it's been 90 percent of his rocket's career i don't want to say you're amazed because this is what you brought him here for but it feels like there's such fluidity from his shots say 15 feet and in would you agree yeah i mean those are almost like a layup for him and so his mid-range has always been a big part of his arsenal one of the best to ever do it and let alone the last 15 years or so and you know he can rise up over those guys very efficient get to his spots and it's almost it's almost money so not surprised at all you know the reason we brought him here was because of that the efficiency hasn't dropped at all it's not he's even more efficient as you getting older uh Jabari has a nice streak of going 15 or more for you and that's

always a nice way to have that in the back pocket it's the the catch and shoot threes, which are really good, it's that fade away from 10. What do you think has changed most, the most improved part of Jabari's offensive game so far this year? I'd say the physicality and being decisive, he's driving it better, taking contact better and getting to his spots, and so not getting knocked off his drive as much. So, you know, just his body in general on both sides of the ball, you know, he's more comfortable with the physicality of the game and opportunity as well.

You know, when you look at Jalen and Dylan and then Fred going down, that's three starters from last year. So he's going to be in a different role with that starting lineup. Eman Doca with us here on Sports Talk 790. All right. So the month of December goes 7 and 6. You obviously would like to have gotten to at least 10 wins. So what would you say are the ups and downs of this last month for your squad?

I would say the ups is that we played really good basketball at points, you know, lately, of course. But even in the losses, you know, we had big leads in two of those losses. or played Denver really close and had some late-game meltdowns. And so there were a lot of good things that you did in those games, you know, that got masked because of the late-day game breakdowns or fouls at the end. And then the bad would be those late-game meltdowns and letting the lead slip away.

And so finding the balance of doing what we did really well to build those leads with staying consistent throughout and not letting us have those lows to lose two fourth-quarter leads like that. And then foul against New Orleans and Denver to, you know, let them back into the game and lose overtime is obviously not a positive. Emaid, did last year around the league teach everybody a little something about not sweating the standings too much? Now, again, obviously you want to be in seating and you loved being the two seed. But Golden State didn't know they were going to be the seventh seed until the playing round.

And you had constant shuffling. Is that something you can live with that, you know what? You want to win every game. You know there's going to be a few bad losses in the mix. But if you're going to sweat those things, you're going to be miserable a lot. more time than you are when you celebrate good victories. Yeah, definitely. Sandings are, you know, less important, honestly, with the play in.

You don't know who you're going to play if you're the one or two seed. And the 7-8, 9-10 are all really good teams, especially in the West. And so, you know, it's a matchup thing in the playoffs. And sometimes certain massups are worse, depending on seeding or just a team in general. And so for us, it's really about playing good basketball. And we want to do that at all times. but especially late in the air, being healthy at the right time and kind of hitting our stride. And so, yeah, you want to avoid the lumps, but what I told the team was going into a Laker game,

we're not a different team than five games ago. We've lost them, let some leaves slip away and lost them overtime games. But if you won those games, it would mask the losses, but there's still things we need to work on and be sharp about. And so for us, it's playing the right way regardless. And, you know, like I said, you want to be hitting your strike going into the end of the season. I don't know if the guys would admit it as much. I know that I talked to Jabari after the game. It was nice.

It was his first Christmas Day game. You had a lot of first-time guys planned on Christmas. Did you notice any extra energy coming out of the locker room or as they were playing the game knowing that it was the only game being played on that time during that time? I think it's good for everybody to go through for the first time. Like I said, all these benchmarks for our young guys, whether it's in-season tournament getting to Las Vegas or playoffs for the first time. It's great to be on the stage and it means you're doing some things as well.

And you have some really good players. And so myself playing in some and coaching in some, it's not new to me. and Kevin's played in a million of them, but for the other guys, a great experience, and I think a little extra juice, the fact that we played the Lakers for the first time. Before I let you run, you got Dorian Finney Smith. You've had him for a couple of games. I would expect his game hasn't changed.

Obviously, you're keeping him on a minute's restriction right now, but as a Houston Rocket, what have you seen in terms of his plug-and-playability for you right now? These are things because of rhythm, legs, and conditioning back, but the IQ, toughness, and, you know, intangible. are there from day one. The communication has been really great. It's great to hear him on the court in the loud arena. He's one of the guys calling out coverages, being very vocal, and we need that from everybody, let alone our veterans. And so adds to our depth, adds to our versatility and just overall rotations and lineups have that quality of a player

join us at this point at this point of the season. Does it feel like for the first time, and obviously Fred not being with you is a huge loss, but is it feel like you've got, you can look down on the bench, you've got a variety of different options depending on the matchups about maybe using Josh, maybe using Doreen Finney Smith, big lineup, small lineup. Do you feel like that's, that Doran adds that to your list? Yeah, we're getting there. You know, we love our depth in general. And to have Josh and Aaron and a different guy step up all year has been great for us. But now I would say having the full compliment of guys back, it adds to that. And, you know, once we get off the minute restrictions

for him and Tari and those guys, and Alpi gets back healthy, we'll really get to see what we are minus Fred this year, but I think it's just only added to our depth, which we have three deep at every position that we're really comfortable with. All right, lastly, Ryan Hollins and I decided we're not going to go down to the ball on New Year's Eve, because this can be crazy plus being in the 25 degree

temperature. If I gave you a prime seat for the ball dropping at midnight, would you go to it or do you just pass and watch it on TV? Absolutely not. I never wanted to go there, and I will avoid the crowd and the cold as well. We'll see if I watch it on TV either, but no, that's not one of my bucket list things to do.

It really isn't mine either. People think I'm nuts about that. E-May, thanks for the time. We'll see you on the plane tomorrow. We appreciate the visit as always. Thank you.