The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Ime Udoka Joins The Show After Rockets Fiery Win To Take Game 2

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Ime Udoka Joins The Show After Rockets Fiery Win To Take Game 2 

Rockets Warriors, tied to the game of peace to discuss last night's impressive victory over Golden State. Let's say hi to the head coach of your Houston Rockets, 10994 over the Golden State Warriors. Ima Doka with Matt and Ross. Coach, thanks for joining us. Congratulations on the game. Can I ask you because, look, our audience and basketball fans, we despise Draymond Green with all of our heart and soul, Eme. and it feels like you guys will do some John occasionally on the court. What are those conversations like?

Can you say or are they going to be kind of like PG-related and can't really bring them up on the air? No, it's nothing crazy. We have a history of obviously playing or coaching against him, and we work together with USA basketball, so I know him very well. More just John back and forth, nothing crazy. We have respect for each other. Like I said, the relationship, and so I know who he is.

He knows who I am. obviously we played in the finals before and so just a little back and forth friendly banter nothing crazy that's too bad I'd like you to punch him but that's a different issue for a different time coach it may look like it because of how he or I are talking

to each other but it's nothing crazy all right well you have more restraint than I do honestly congratulations of the wind last night Jayland Green's coming out party he mentioned post game that game one felt really big the arena looked bigger the

court look bigger. The rim, that's not uncommon for guys. You've coached a lot of guys that have made this subtle adjustment between game one and two. So for those things to come out of his mouth and the way he played, it couldn't have been a huge surprise to you. No, I think, you know, it's different for everybody and we can talk about it, prepare for it, and, you know, have all that time during the week for guys to share their experiences, but you have to go through it for the first time. And, you know, it's basketball at the end of the day, but everything is amplified and magnified and the physicality goes up and everything becomes more important to every possession. And so it takes guys some time, you know, whether it's a quarter of a game, whatever it is.

And once we saw some things on film and saw the looks we had and understood how they were guarding us, we had a good feeling that he'd have a bounce back in our team with as well. Was there anything to your eye, now that you've had a chance to look at the game film that they did? Was it more on the adjustments on your end, do you think, or on their end? And obviously when you lose Butler, like they did in the course of the contest, it moved the rotation around. Was there any other massive changes that you could tell our audience that you saw between the two games? Well, first of all, you know, when you make shots, that helps. And so we defended at the same level, you know, scored 95 in the first game, 94 in this game,

and really in the 80s before they had some late buckets. So we defended at the same level. And we knew if our offense woke up and came to life a little bit, we'd be in good shape. And so from us, it was about being more particular with our spacing, not getting this stagnant, trying to hunt matchups and just get back to normally what we do, which is taking advantage of Alpian side or Alpian different spots. Jalen and our whole team, you know, doing it as a unit. And I think we got bogged down trying to pick on matchups and got a little stagnant, which it benefits them. They're geared toward hiding guys on defense and loading up and all those things. And we're looking at a bunch of bodies and the way they create turnovers, I think that benefits.

fit at them. So we got back to more of our norm. Try to get stops and get out and run, execute and transition, and then take care of the ball. And that was the formula. Took care of the basketball. Ema, your squad hit free throws. I thought of men, Thompson was really on the cusp of having a big night offensively until the foul trouble became into play.

Did you feel the game was officiated a little differently from games one to two? Or was it pretty close in your mind? No, it was pretty close. I think they've let us both be physical. You know, it happens in the playoffs anyway. and we are two of the better defensive teams that play with physicality. And so nothing different there. You just have to adjust at times if you have the foul trouble.

And we went with our men with two, brownback first quarter, Dylan as well. And they picked up their third. And so we can go to some other lineups or bring Aaron Holiday and some guys that we did or go to some zone to protect guys. And so I think it was officiated pretty similarly both games. Like I said, just have to adjust when you have the foul trouble and not get the stupid fouls off ball. How would you assess two games into what you've seen from Amena Thompson?

And you talked about maybe, you know, playoff experience and lacking. It seems almost like in a reverse way, you'd have to prevent Amend Thompson for getting too excited for playoff basketball. Yeah, he's been good. I mean, he obviously can be much better. And the fouls are a big part of it. He's going to impact the game as long as he's out there on the court,

on defense and offense. And just like I said, have to be smart with the reaching foul when you have one already in the first quarter. the one he got on the rebound and then he'll get going offensively. He's missed some easy shots around the basket, obviously in game one, missed a few dunk putbacks. But the way he impacts the game is not just by scoring. Obviously, he's doing a great job on Curry initially hounding him

and all the intangibles that he brings the table. So that'll all come in time, you know, the ups and downs of a young guy being in the playoffs for the first time, show at times. But he's not relying on scoring only to impact the game. Rocket's head to coach, Ema Doka with us here on Sports Talk 790. And back to Jalen Green quickly. What were your conversations

like with him in between game one and the performance in game two? Well, the message was simple. Like what's going into the series is be aggressive, stay confident, and don't second guess. Take the shots that are there. They're guarding a certain way.

And he kind of saw that. We all saw it on film, obviously, and went over as a team. I think being patient is a big thing. You know, you get the matchup that you like, whether it's a big or small, and you kind of rush into the crowd, and narrow loaded up.

You've got to step back, survey a little bit, let everybody get to their spacing, and then attack from there, and he did a great job of that right from the start. And so that, the spacing, everybody being delivered about, you know, giving him the room to work, but also him taking the threes,

which you took 18, and when they go under her, they're trying to protect him from driving, you have to take those shots to loosen them up. And he did that, obviously, making 8 of 18. How bad did you need those Tari East and three-pointers of fall? I know he had struggled in game one from Premeter and gave you a couple of early ones in the game two,

which obviously made a big difference. And how about this, Coach, as you know, wire-to-wire wins don't happen very often in the NBA. You got one last night in a playoff game. Yeah, it was big for Tari. I think for us in general. He hadn't been shooting it well lately. But he had wide open looks in game one going 0 for 4.

And so when you only make. six for 29 as a team or whatever it is. You need anybody to knock him down and he took the onus on and did that. He had two really good days of work. Just watching him shoot and watching his preparation. He was basically on fire

in the shoot-arounds and practices. I told him that. I said how good a shot looks and stay confident and be aggressive and came out and made those. So great carryover from what he did in practice. No lack of confidence there. Understanding the shots he's going to get as long as we get to our spacing. And they make the

right reads. And so that's a big thing there. Obviously, with the wire to wire, yeah, we came out and did the same thing we did in game one, which was jumped out to early lead. Different as we maintained it and extended it at times. And so, you know, we take care of the ball, get shots, although we only had 11 offensive rebounds, as opposed to 22 in the first game. Give yourself those second chance opportunities. You can maintain those leads. And so doing a great job overrall on both sides of the ball. You've been able to win a couple of challenges late, including one yesterday in the playoff game. Have you and your staff, the guys that you trust with the video replay, even taken in a step further to say, hey, it's a playoff game. If we're going to challenge something

early, we better damn be ready to win this one because these things are so valuable and you want to certainly have one in your back pocket, maybe in the third or fourth quarter of a game. Yeah, it is crucial to get those early ones if you're going to challenge. Knowing you may need it down the line, you know, maybe in the regular season you wouldn't challenge something that, you know, that might be marginal, but I think we got a good grasp of what they call and obviously looking at the play before the play to determine if it was a foul or something that initiated that contact. But at the same time, a few games ago, I would have thought the charge was a charge.

And I saw that one myself. And so, you know, it's always a little bit of judgment. And based on camera angles is a big part of it. And so our guys got 12 different angles behind the bench. They have to look quick and see everything and try to judge if it's a, something precluding the play. But I think we do a great job overall. And like I said, every possession is important.

So we'll be more reticent to take the challenge early. Last question, EMA. You've got a lot of young men that now have two playoff games under their belt, but they're about to hit the road for the very first time in a playoff game. How much of the message changes from when you maybe talked to them earlier this week when they're about to play their first postseason game? Yeah, I mean, the home court advantage is great. but we have to go on the road doing games regardless in the series.

And so for us, it's more of the same that we did to start this season. Struggled last year, you know, on the road. And our message, our guys this year was come out and be a different team on the road. And we've done that right from the gate go. So at the end of the day, like I always say, it's just basketball. And you know, once the ball is tossed up, it's whatever. Take the crowd out of it. Take a motion out of it and just play your game.

And so that'll be no different going to San Francisco. Thank you for the visit, my friend. Congratulations. I'll see you tomorrow. We'll get up to San Francisco and best of luck this weekend in Golden State. Thank you. Thank you. You may have okay with us here on Sports Talk, 790.