The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Ime Udoka On Rockets Losing 5 Straight: 'Slippage In A Lot Of Areas'

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Houston is one of the best road teams in the league with 17 wins, but the Rockets have struggled recently, losing their last four on the road. Anthony Edwards handed the Rockets their latest defeat Thursday, recording 41 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead the Minnesota Timberwolves to a 127-114 victory. The Rockets began the fourth quarter with a six-point lead but were then outscored 35-16 over the final 12 minutes. "The scoring droughts in the fourth have hurt us," head coach Ime Udoka said. The Rockets are second in the NBA in rebounds per game, but the Timberwolves outrebounded Houston 47-39. "Defensively, we've slipped in a lot of areas, rebounding, guarding in transition. So when you're not scoring to the level that we need to be, you have to be even more stingy on the defensive end." Point guard Fred VanVleet suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter of February 2's loss to the Brooklyn Nets, and his return to the floor is undetermined. "[VanVleet] is maybe the most important player as a point guard to get us organized," Udoka said. "Experience is one thing, but the IQ that he has and the understanding of when to be aggressive, when to get guys shots, when to get guys into certain spots is definitely missing." The veteran guard has seen a dip in production, marking 14.6 points per game, which is his lowest in the last six seasons, but his leadership is vital to the Rockets' game plans. "Teams want to attack us certain ways or switch up matchups and schemes. He's really good at diagnosing those and getting us in the right sets," Udoka said. With VanVleet out, Reed Sheppard has been able to garner more playing time, recording 17 minutes against the Timberwolves. "[Sheppard] needs to continue to improve in the IQ department... It's a young guy in a different position. He didn't always play the point guard, played off-ball a lot, and now he's being asked to be a secondary handler." The NBA trade deadline passed Thursday afternoon with the Rockets making minor moves, including acquiring center Cody Zeller from the Atlanta Hawks and guard Jaden Springer from the Boston Celtics (the Rockets have waived Springer). "We have a lot of depth and a lot of growth that we've seen this year so far...We want to see who we are going forward in real pressure situations, playoff situations and meaningful games down the stretch," Udoka said.

Speaking of sleep department, I don't know how well Ema Adoka slept, but let's find out right now. He's a head coach of your beloved Houston Rockets, and he joins us here on Sports Talks 7. 9. Coach, good morning, restless night, or did you sleep okay? Pretty restless night. I get it. I get it. Hey, sometimes these interviews are fun to do because things are going great. Unfortunately, the squad's dropped five in a row. Give us a couple takeaways from the last night, and I guess the number one thing are from my audience today, E may, is that we've had some tough fourth quarters.

What do you attribute that to? Yeah, the scoring droughts in the fourth have heard us for sure. But, you know, we look at the totality of the game and so many things that we are not doing correctly, especially to start a game with specific game plans and personnel and, you know, a guy like Anthony Edwards coming off a 49-point game in the previous night to let him come out as comfortable as he was in the first quarter and get going. It's hard to slow somebody down when, you know, you have 18 in the first quarter, eight free throws, wide open threes and obviously we wanted a game plan to be more aggressive with him take away certain looks and we didn't do that from the start and then in the fourth quarter

he took it on the shoulders to lead his team and some of the same things that hurt us in the first quarter where we did better in the second and third against him crept back in the fourth you have never made excuses for us but i want to ask you in factors the number of games played this month has been all the road games that's a sure number of games games, Fred being gone the last handful. What do you attribute to some of what has turned out to be a subpar start of the month of February? Well, slippage in a lot of areas. Obviously, defensively, we've slipped in a lot of areas there, rebounding, guarding in transition.

And so when you're not scoring to the level that we need to be, you have to be even more stingy on the defensive end. Obviously, injuries happen. And Alper missed those three games. Fred has been out now. but we've relied on our depth when we've been hurt all year, and everybody has to go through the scheduling thing. So we started the road trip off well against top-tier teams and had some letdowns against lesser teams,

and so don't attribute it to the road games or anything like fatigue. Like I said, everybody's going through at this point in the season. But just slippage overall, I think we're number 18 or 19 in defense in the last, in the month of January and early February so far. and obviously top five all year in the league, number two, most of the year. And obviously, that's hurting us there in the fourth quarter scoring grouts, like you said, doing things that didn't help us get the lead throughout the game. And that was the case last night where the ball movement was great.

We only have one assist in the fourth quarter and have six points in the first six minutes, and Edwards gets going, so it's a snowball effect. There is certainly a little bit of the Greg Popovich coaching in you, because you have called a few timeouts early third quarter in games. That's something that I always felt like Pop was great at doing that when he was coaching the Spurs. You do it as well on occasion. What's that like? Is it just like you're so exasperated you have to call a timeout to correct things right away?

Or is that something that Pop said is don't let things linger because, you know, it's really strange. You come out of the second half, you see one or two baskets and you're calling a timeout sometimes 45, 60 seconds into the third. quarter. Well, obviously, to start the game, we watch the extensive free game tape to see what we want to take away, see what tendencies and players are running. And, you know, and so at halftime, we go into adjustment mode and watch the things that hurt us in the first half, things we did well. And a lot of times, I'm trying to reiterate that point.

If we showed, you know, five, six clips of something that hurt us and we come out right in the third quarter and do the same thing, obviously, you need to redirect the attention, get their focus back and, you know, being that we just talked about taking these things away, that's, that's basically what it is. And so everything's a different, you know, different circumstances. It's not just one thing, but, yeah, that's a lot of the time. We have made adjustments and talked about certain things to take away at halftime. And when we don't come out and do them, you have to let them know about it. Feels like, especially in these close and late situations, coach, you guys are missing Fred Van Vleet. Yeah, I think regardless of late game and any time of the game,

he is maybe the most important player as a point guard to get us organized. And, you know, obviously experience is one thing, but the IQ that he has and the understanding of, you know, when to be aggressive, when to get guys shots, when to get guys into certain spots is definitely missing. And so an opportunity for other guys to play that role and step into that role and learn and grow on the fly. But definitely something that's missed at times, especially, you know, what teams want to go zone against us, teams want to attack us certain ways or switch up matchups and schemes. He's really good at diagnosing those and getting us in the right sets. And so you can only do so much, you know, deadball situations, timeouts and those things.

But on the fly, you know, make or miss and we want to push out and transition. He's really good at finding mismatches attacking and understanding how to get guys involved. Rocket Tech coach, IMA Adoka, with us here on Sports Talk 790, an uptick in minutes for Reed Shepard. What have you been seeing out of him that you like? and things you want him to improve? Yeah, his aggressiveness, his confidence, you know, being the threat that he is out there hunting those shots, I think it's very apparent how teams are guarding him

and the attention that he gets already just off of, you know, reputation and who he is and where he got drafted and those things. And so, you know, wanted to get him some live game action. Obviously he played probably his best game overall in Brooklyn. Obviously, he needs to continue to improve us in the IQ department with the rest of the guys. it's a young guy in a different position. Didn't always play the point guard,

played off ball a lot, and now he's being asked to be a secondary handler with a man out there, with Jalen out there. And so those things defensively taking on the challenge as well when teams try to target him. We do have some things that we can scheme around to take care of him, but you know,

you have to do your part as well and not just get beat initially or get blown by and put up a little bit more fight, and he's done that. He's approved on both ends. I think obviously aggressive, aggressiveness on offense and then taking on chance. It was just defensively.

Those are the main things. How did you spend the trade deadline day? Obviously, you know, Rafael probably taking a lot of phone calls, lobbing a few. What was it like? I know that you were asked about it yesterday before the game and just kind of said, hey, we have a good deep roster like where we are. What was your overall sense of how active or maybe inactive you guys were on the trade conversation?

Well, I think, like I said, we have a lot of depth and a lot of, growth that we've seen this year so far obviously we've had a good start a little slippage here lately but I want to see who we are going forward in real pressure situations playoff situations and meaningful games down the stretch so nothing we were really looking for as far as that but teams always call obviously when you have the depth that we have and the draft picks and the young talent teams are going to call and check in no doubt

and you know Raphael is taking calls all day and checking out the rest of the league the landscape of the league and doing his due diligence. But I would say it's more so uneventful compared to some of the other teams and all the moves that were made. But teams are checking in nonstop. And that's his job, obviously, to monitor that and take the calls and see what guys are talking about. I don't know if you've, you know, look, you're young in your coaching career as a head coach,

but you've been in the league as an assistant played and obviously now running things here in Houston. Steve Kerr mentioned he would like to see the trade deadline, maybe push to maybe be around the All-Star break. Do players, do you get a sense that they get nervous about this kind of time? Or is it just, you know what, this is just part of being an NBA player? A lot has to do with the experience and how long you've been around and kind of get numb to it. But it's definitely real.

You feel it, you sense it, you've noticed it with guys. I think last year we were in Toronto doing a practice shoot around during the trade deadline and everybody had a sense of nervousness about them. And then the deadline went past. and it was like a big deep breath was exhaled last year in Toronto and guys got back to our shoot-round. And so you can feel it, you can see it, no doubt. You know, real lives involved, families involved.

And when you see Luca Donchus getting traded, like everybody said, and everybody knows anything's possible. And so, yeah, there's some real reality to that. I think young guys might stress a little bit more than guys who've been around. And, you know, Fred, Jeff and guys that have been around, they say it doesn't even bother them because they've seen, been there, done that, but it is a real thing and obviously affects people very differently. You mentioned, Luca, in your entire life, being in the NBA circles in which you have been,

is that the most astonishing move you've seen in your life as being a professional coach and athlete? Yeah, it was probably the most surprising trade for sure. I think you have somebody that's all NBA led to the league and scoring. You just got to the finals. You don't expect them to be traded, obviously, but you don't know what's going on inside the organization and what they feel is needed to compete and ever take a next step. And sometimes those things are needed and are done. And obviously I know Nico well, the GM, and we grew up together.

And so obviously something that they have to deal within the organization. And they know the ins and outs of it more so than the public. And so something that they really got a good player back, obviously. They still have a deep team and have added more depth and obviously had a good win against Boston yesterday. Coach, thank you for the time. Good luck tomorrow against Dallas. Good, a good practice, and we'll see you at the arena tomorrow afternoon.

That's it, thank you. You got it. You may have to goke up with us here on the Matt Thomas show with Ross.