The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Ime Udoka Joins Before Rocket Face #2 Spurs

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Head Coach Ime Udoka Joins Before Rocket Face #2 Spurs

Houston Rockets, he may have been. Don't get Rockets taking on the Spurs tonight, 830, which could be either 842 or 847, depending on TV. Then tomorrow night will be in Atlanta to take on the Hawks, coaches with us here. You may, do you get the guys prepared ever so differently because of the late start, or is it just the naps go a little bit longer in the afternoon? No, we try to keep the schedule pretty much the same. We don't push back, shoot around anything. I think guys are in their routines, and more than anything, to your point, to give has an extra hour or so to relax and get ready.

Talk about routines. What is the one thing that does bother a team? You've coached on how long enough? You were a player. You were an assistant coach. What makes routines, I guess for anybody important, but why NBA players are so fixated on an hour-by-hour basis? I think once you've been doing it for a certain amount of time,

you just get in that mode of, you know, when to wake up, when to take your nap, when to eat, and kind of everything's set, especially on game days. for very specific times. And, you know, that's the game day routine that a lot of guys stick by. And when you get throwing off, whether it's nap time or something happens in the afternoon, a lot of guys' rhythm and timing and clock gets kind of thrown off. So you try to keep it as much as similar as possible.

And that's why we didn't move anything around, even though we're starting a little bit later tonight. My assumption is that Alpi didn't go to you directly before the game and say, Santiago Dami is going to guard me. So let me have the ball as much as I can because that was as efficient as he's been, as a Houston rocket. Yeah, I mean, they did the same thing last game. You know, a lot of teams want to put bigger bodies on men. And so Jaron Jackson, Jr. guarding him.

Alp. was guarded by Aldama last game. We saw some things that worked well in Memphis. But, you know, they're going to try to plug the lane with Jaron Jackson being the weak side help. And, you know, Alpern made great passes, but also got the ball in really deep scoring position before the double team could get there. You mentioned a man career high in assists. He had 14.

Scoring numbers have dropped a little bit. Coincidental or has it become a little bit of, hey, he's becoming an even better facilitator than he was, maybe even before the start of the season? No, he's definitely grown in that area. I think he missed some shots he would usually make. You know, he went three for 10 there. But, you know, honestly, could have had 20 assists if we knocked down some open shots earlier in the game before we finally started making some later. but I think him getting downhill, he's starting to see the court better. He had some really nice passes, you know, one to Kevin on the back door,

a drop off or two to Alpi, and then, you know, some kickouts off of penetration. So you see him the floor better. That's the balance that he has to strike all year is when to be aggressive, get downhill and get to a basket, or when he has to read and make plays. And like I said, Jaron Jackson Jr., sitting back clogging the lane off of him. He ate up a lot of that space to help still came and then he made the right play. Rocket Tech coach, Imoe Adoka, was here on Sports Talk 790. Tari Isan, just tell us how well.

Obviously, he's been shooting well from three and the things you like that you're seeing from him, keeping him in the starting lineup. That's a big part of it was him coming off the injury, amid the restrictions with the ankle. And so we wanted to ramp him back up. He's got those games under his belt now. And it doesn't take a lot to see how effective he was. and we were when he was starting before he went out with the ankle.

And so I like to have two really good lengthy defenders out there, him and I'm in or dad. Josh is that when he's out and then Dorian getting his way back in now. So I think they're formidable as far as that. They did a really good job on Spencer and Coward, you know, two young guys who were really playing well for Memphis. And so you see their numbers across the board. And we'll look for them to do the same thing tonight with the Spurs guys.

What is it like playing the Spurs? It's not like you just played them, but not too many games ago. is there a little bit of cat and mouse game with game planning tonight or is it kind of stick to the same? Well, there is back and forth. We saw some things we really did well against Webby, Yama specifically, you know, to hold him to five for 21. It's a great job. We took away his space. We were very physical, denied a lot of his catches, got him off his spot.

And so that was a full team effort, and everybody has to kind of be on board with that. And then you, and then our man did a really good job on Fox. Jabari was exceptional on Castle, you know, only one free throw. for a guy that is a really good foul baiter and forced him into eight three-pointers which is not necessarily his game and so I think across the board we did well the thing we're going to have to obviously do his

account for Champagne much better. You know he got up 10 3s in the first half made six of them and then Bessel being back now. They're very similar as far as that so you have another shooter so it makes. I love the term foulbator it's just so good. It's just the truth I mean compared to when you were playing how often do you

say that phrase when you're like oh I got to go against this guy's going to be searching for foul shots? I mean, there was one or two guys, maybe in the league, maybe three. It seems like there's one or two guys on every team now. Per team, yeah. There's now 60 of them. It's really different. I mean, the physicality of defense back then, if the rules were the same, you would have fouled out every game for sure. And so I got it really stands out to me is Kevin Martin.

Great, you know, great first step and great at drawing that foul if he drew a little contact. and so playing against him a bunch and then played with him briefly in Sacramento, saw how good he was at that. But back then it was, you know, one or two guys, and now it's a little bit of everybody. So it's something you have to prepare for. And keeping guys off the line is a major key to their success and our team's success. Any final decision about who's going to sit tonight or maybe tomorrow

or is that still going to play things out how things go against the spurs before you figure out who's going to sit and stay? Well, I mean, the only guys we really talk about are the guys that can't play back-to-backs yet and we're holding Tari out and Dorian tomorrow. They'll both play tonight. Okay, very good. A lot of back-to-backs, I don't know you're not much of a calendar looker, because every time I ask you about who's playing,

you're like, we're only like two opponents ahead. But is it kind of a race to the All-Star break to give guys as much going as you can? And then, you know, look, you can get that rest and not worry about the calendar once that mid-season break starts. Yeah, I think, you know, for us, it's back-to-back each week, the rest of the way. And so, you know, we didn't have a lot early, but, you know, had the, have the Philly Detroit. Now we have these two, and then next week it'll be the same thing,

and then we finish with the clippers back to back home. And so for us, it's finding that balance, you know, a bunch of games, three and four nights are back-to-backs, but, you know, getting guys back healthy, getting guys off-minute restrictions, definitely helps, and they're relying on your depth. You know, obviously, Kevin and I'm in her shouldering the load with a minute, but want to shave those down as much as possible. Anytime you get a chance to rest of those guys get a comfortable win, it would definitely be beneficial. I love the Detroit game because it was a back-to-back. It was a win,

tough flight, whatever the case, but getting in the middle of the night there, how many times are you going to see a team like Detroit over the course of the season? And I don't know if it's necessarily East versus West, because there's some physical teams, obviously, in the West, but that was kind of a little bit more of an old-school approach to playing a basketball game where it was not necessarily a

15-round boxing fight, but it was certainly even on the perimeter, a very physical contest. Yeah, I mean, we've established ourselves is the most physical, if not, you know, one of them in the last few years. And so we want to maintain that identity while growing and improving in other areas and understanding the success that's brought us over the last few years. And then Detroit has somewhat done the same thing. Their personnel is definitely that. And I think Bicker staff is kind of getting those guys

on the same page as far as that. But you look at Duran, you look at Stewart, you look at some of their guys, their natural physical guys and defenders. And so they bought into that. And has been successful for them as well out on the east. And so you knew that game was going to be somewhat bad. I think both teams enjoy that, enjoy playing that way. And we got the better of them this time. They got the better of us early home this year. One week and change away from the trade deadline.

Of course, we know Stephen Adams out for a length of time. Are you in constant contact with Ruffel as far as regards to trades or more focused on what's happening on the court? No, we definitely talk and you don't meet with every few days. week, especially around this time. And so more so than anything, you know, people are checking in and very interested in a lot of our pieces. And so it's more of that than anything. I think he's just touching base with people. And obviously, people are reaching out with a lot more interest in us than we do in other people. Do you respond back? New phone, who this?

No, I don't get the calls anyway. Call Rafael. I ain't got time for you. Hey, Ema, thank you for the time. Good luck tonight. And we will see at the arena for the game against Spurs. Looking forward to it. Thank you. You got it. You may have docker with us here on the show.