The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Ime Udoka Breaks Down Rockets Losses vs Lakers

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Ime Udoka Breaks Down Rockets Losses vs Lakers

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. 102 on Sports Talk 7.90. Let's spend 10 minutes right now with head basketball coach of your Houston Rockets. His name is Ime Adoka. Rockets tonight taking on the Atlanta Hawks. And this Hawk team coming in has won 11 consecutive games. Rockets could certainly like to get in the streak like that going here sometime soon. Emay, thanks for the time.

Tell me about how awesome that third quarter was for you guys. Came back after being down double digits. And I really thought it was a turn of the corner. did fourth quarter what was the difference in your mind those final tovas compared to what you saw out of those opening minutes of the third quarter two nights ago

I would say our energy and efficiency was way better in the third obviously getting down we battled back and that was a good sign but you know defend at a high level holding them to 22 obviously scoring 37 is a great number for a quarter

the fourth quarter to start it was a few bad plays in a row turnovers they led them out to easy bath baskets and kind of went on, I think they went on 13 to 6 run to retake the lead. And so after all the work we put in in the third, it was a little disappointing to come out in the fourth and kind of give it right back. You know, the turnover count was significantly lower than it was from Monday. But, man, it felt like every one of them turned out to be leakouts into baskets for the

Lakers. That's at least the way I saw it. Yeah, you have 12 turnovers. They score 23 points off those. And they're 8 for 10 and fast break points. That was a big part of it. And so a lot of live ball turnovers that got out to layups. You know, you want the deadball ones.

If you do turn it over, you want to throw out of bounds or travel or whatever the case may be instead of a steel that leads to an easy uncontested break. And so to their credit, they were efficient in those, although we had the number lower, it was just the types of turnovers that really hurt us. Did you feel like, man, with a men being as efficient as he was, Alpi was 10 of 15, that was, it was, you needed something of a bounce back in that and get to get Alpy out there. tell me, obviously, the disappointment level for losing those two games at home, and then obviously now, unfortunately, a little bit of separation between you and the Lakers for that three spot in the West. Yeah, we had an opportunity to go the other way, especially how tight the standings are. And, you know, at least we want to win one and win the season series, the tiebreaker, and put ourselves in a little bit of hole there, but have time to kind of dig ourselves out.

We're two games behind and lost columns. So get on the streak, like you mentioned, start to play more consistent basketball and finish year on the run. right note, we can get ourselves right back in contention where we want to be. Eme, Tari, got the double digits for the first time this month. Unfortunately, he just has one three-pointer to his credit. This is a prolonged slump for him. Is this a deep dive into shot selection? Is it to where the ball is leaving his hand?

Because I always have the firm belief of I can usually tell when the ball leaves a hand if it's going to go in because of the rotation or where it was shot. What's in his mind right now? Because obviously, this is the deepest funk he's been in quite some time. it starts to become mental at some point you know like I always said with young guys you have your ups and downs and Jabari played his way out of it and been playing great basketball

this year Alpice had to deal with it somewhat at times and so you want to do other things to inject yourself into the game not just rely on three-pointers going down you know cause some havoc on the defensive end like he does get some easy baskets he got some out in transition get to the friectaline some putbacks get on the offensive last things of that nature so you're not just relying on three-point shot. But honestly,

it's the same great looks he was getting all year when he was shooting 45 plus, and it just has your ups and downs, but he has to stop overthinking it. I think that guys will start to hesitate and pass up open shots trying to get something better. Stay the course. Trust the work that you put in, and you'll

shoot your way or work your way out of that slow. How did you feel about the way you guys handled Luca Donchich for a couple of games? Because to me, it seemed like a lot of times it was pretty good defense, even though you look up. He had a 40 point triple double. Then I guess at least he didn't give up 60.

Yeah, you know, he's a tough shot maker. You know, he was efficient with the shots. But other than the first game where we had some miss cues and he got some wide open threes, he didn't get the same open looks in this second game. I think, you know, he made really tough contested shots in the lane that you kind of want to live with. And we did a really

good job on him on Christmas day and making him miss the same shots. And so very efficient. That's why he's one of the best in leading the league in scoring is because you can do that on a nightly basis. But the other things where, you know, the three-point attempts being a 17 and then the frito's being at 14, that's way too high a number. And obviously, you see the same thing he did against Miami last night,

17 attempts and 15 free throws. So consistent with what he does, and that's why he's the lead score. Rocket Tech coach, IMA Addocha, was here on Sports Talk 790. We know that every game at this point of the utmost importance, do you feel like as a coaching staff and around the team, Are you guys trying to get into playoff mode or trying to try to keep things a little bit normal? No, you have to ramp it up and understand

that after All-Star break it goes very quickly, let alone the standings of how tight it is this year. You know, when you've given some games way early, you have more sense of urgency, you know, later in the air. And so for us, you already have to kick into that, no doubt. I think in general, we understand what's on the line. Now the rest of these games, you want to get to that mode as quickly as possible, but also

So, you know, understanding that you can go from three to seven pretty easily and get on a good streak ourselves. This Atlanta team, I think we're catching him in a minute at the absolute wrong time. They have won 11 consecutive games. Not only have they winning games, you may have. As you know, they're blowing people out. What's the elixir that's working for them right now? They've been number one on offense and number one on defense in the last, you know, on their streak, 11 games. I think Jalen Johnson's playing an extremely high level, but they're playing fast.

aggressive, you know, shooting the three really well, and then they're great on the boards. And so that's always a, you know, formulas for success. You shoot the ball well, fast in transition and crash the offensive and defensive glass, and they've done that. You got, I guess when a couple back-to-backs now left to go before the end of the season, it feels like we were always running into these things. Is Doreen going to play tonight or tomorrow? I guess I was trying to figure that out at this point.

Doreen will play tomorrow. Okay, so Doreen is out tonight. And how's it? It looked like Alpi was pretty first. I shall have couple of games of back spasms. Those things can always pop up, but he looked very nimble

and was able to really be as effective, at least scoring for you when you needed him two a couple nights ago against the Lakers. Yeah, he's feeling good. I think, you know, had it been in the playoffs, he could have played probably the first Laker game,

but you want to get him that rest to make sure he's 100% coming back. And so, yeah, it looked really good. Obviously, a very efficient game, 27 points, 10, 10 assists, and, you know, very efficient, 10 for 15 shooting. So, great bounceback night for him,

and obviously we're going to need him down the final stretch. And lastly, Amand Thompson continues to give you lots and lots of minutes. His scoring has gone up. He's 26 for you. How's he holding out during all this?

I know he's young and spry, but it feels like he is really taking a lot of bumps here and probably a lot of cold tubs after games these last few weeks. Yeah, he's definitely meticulous with the recovery, you know, getting the needles and massages and everything taking care of his body. But, yeah, we lean on him in several different ways.

Obviously, the scoring has been great. his bump there, but the rebounding assist numbers, no turnover's last game, and then defending, you know, the best player on the nightly basis. It's a lot of work. And so he takes care of himself to be prepared for that and has really relished in this role. And I think that's what he's looking for. That's what we need for him. And he's in a 40-minute range consistently, but still does it a very high level.