The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Ime Udoka Recaps Rockets Win in Phoenix and Previews Matchup vs Golden State

Episode Date: November 25, 2025

Ime Udoka Recaps Rockets Win in Phoenix and Previews Matchup vs Golden State

102 sports talk 7-9 let's spend 10 minutes with the head basketball coach of your Houston Rockets knocking off the suns here in Phoenix last night he made doka with us on the show coach thanks for the time let's do this let's evaluate a dylan brook smack to you during the game you chuckled one time can you tell us what was said or is it for non-radio show purposes no that was all me it was me messing with Dylan just talking a little bit nothing real and I was going to laugh at basically what I said he might have thought I was serious but we got a lot of love and respect for each other and just giving them a little bit for the Stephen flop you know what he said y'all were flopping yesterday I don't believe it for a second y'all pull

and tug it's what the NBA lifestyle is all about I'm all for it congratulations on the win last night. You had to go with a different lineup. A thought or two about Aaron Holiday, man, every time you call his number for extended minutes, he's come through for you. I've said it nonstop that he's a counseling pro, a guy that always stays ready. It works extremely hard. And no matter when it's been in these last years, whenever called upon to your point, he's always ready, plays multiple roles, multiple positions, and does a little bit of everything as far as defending, scoring, initiating offense. and so he's been great for us.

Last night you didn't start the jumbo line up, but you went to it a little bit during the second half. As you watch this and the season progresses, do you find yourself kind of curious to throw the jumbo line up in there to see what it does when you don't normally think you'd put it in the play during the course of the game? And how much of it is feeling,

how much of it is, hey, let's try something different. No, I think it's something that works really well for us consistently. And so we're going to go through that pretty much every game. there's some non-conventional lineups out there that you think we would not use it against but we can go to our zone there and then teams are going to either try to upsize to match our physicality

or downsize to create mismatches. But if we do what we do on the offensive end, take care of the ball and then play a good zone with communication and activity we can kind of combat any lineup that's out there. You have had to go a little bit deeper into the rotation with the injuries popping up. What did you see from J.D. Davison

with his 18 minutes, things you liked and things that you would like to see improve. Yeah, I mean, it fit in very well. He's another guy that we're very confident in, and obviously numbers crunch and minutes at crunch at certain positions. So with Aaron not being able to get minutes every night when we're fully healthy, it's obviously JD's behind him as far as that. So a guy that's had a really good preseason dominant in the G League,

and we see that carrying over into the games. And so he kind of hit the ground running, you know, Handles the playing guard very well. Can guard up or guard down. I think he's just fit in with the other guys. And so having him out there with Reed or Aaron was great. Another guy that can handle. Like I said, he guards bigger guys.

And so I had a very impressive night. Rocket's head coach, Ima Adoka, with his here on Sports Talk 790. A bit of a quiet night for Reed Shepard offensively. But just from my untrained eye, I looked defensively like he was holding his own. Teams look for him. What are your conversations with him as far as the,

the defensive side of the ball where you know that there are teams that are going to try to exploit his defense. He's going to have to be ready for that. I know you've run some zone with him as well and what have you seen from him on that end of the floor? Well, first of all, you know, we want him to take the challenge and I think he's done that and improved

his physicality guarding the ball this year. And so in general I think, you know, it doesn't matter with him or Aaron or somebody else that's more season and even stronger. There's going to be some size advantages and disadvantages regardless. And we can scheme up things to, you know, and heads and certain things that we did against Booker last night.

But, you know, he's taking on the challenge this year. And it's a night and day from last year, more confident, more physical, more aggressive, and then understanding assignments. And so he's great there. But even with that offensively, you know, he just missed shots and that he normally makes. And so, you know, we don't equate a bad night just to missing shots. He's still around the pick and roll very well, made a ton of great passes and got us into what we needed to.

EMA, is that a men Thompson, Eurostep, mid-range? becoming one of the most difficult shots for opponents to stop right now in the NBA? Yeah, I mean, teams want to give up to him because of his pace and athleticism. And, you know, he has a change of pace there and it can stop on the dime and make that awkward shot. So it's, you know, you keep giving up ground and he keeps eating up the space and elevates him. He's so high over the rim or whatever. And so, yeah, he's very unique player in the things he does, things you can't teach. But he's more confident in the jumper knocking down the mid-range.

they're going to step up a little bit and you can get to that much easier now. I know the three-point shot is something he's still trying to work on. And it feels like he's been a little more selective, especially since earlier this season. Was that something that is just knowing where he is on the floor? Is it something you've talked to him about? I don't think you need him necessarily to shoot five or six a game. But if that becomes something where he can knock down one or two for you every single night, it will certainly open up your spacing on the offensive side.

Yeah, we want him to be aggressive, but also understand that take the shot that you want, not the shot that the opponent wants you to take. And so just because they're, you know, shifting off and trying to beat you into certain shots, you can still flash back door like he does very well, still attack the close out. Like I said, eating up that space and be confident when the shot presents itself. And so he's been much better in the corners, and we encourage him to take those above the break. We wanted to move and get to his spots a little bit to the corner or the dunker spot a little bit more to, you know, move the defense around but when it's presented take the shot confidently but also don't

fail teams out by taking it when you want it and attack when you when when they close out short last year obviously it was a knockdown dragout seven game series with golden state they're going through some injury concerns just like you are right now what have you seen on tape and early thought about playing the warriors tomorrow night yeah I mean they've had some ups and downs due to those injuries guys in the lineup like a lot of league right now But still, you know, decent record with the injuries and the setbacks that they've had. And so always a challenge. You know, they got a guy over there that makes that possible with Curry and playing the way he is.

And, you know, obviously, add Butler to the mix as well. So we'll prepare for them if they're going to be whole. And regardless, we hold ourselves to the same standard regardless is in for us, as you saw last night. And so no different on our end. So I'm going there for a hard-fought game and, you know, go into this Thanksgiving break with the win. you talked about wanting the guys to obviously with the ball movement being very important and playing for each other and i think probably the best passing team or one of the best passing teams i can remember would be that 2014 spurs team that you were an assistant on do you ever talk about those teams or show tape of those teams and bring it to your team about just when it comes to everybody passing and being unselfish yeah i mean we always and i may not talk to specifically about that team, but we're always harping on making the right play, making the simple play and, you know, good to great for the next guy. And so the more we can do that,

especially with the double teams that Kevin and Alpy draw, I think it's difficult to guard and the randomness as far as that. And so there are sets we want to get into, but there's also going to be those situations where you just, and drive and kick mode. And when we get to that, I think we've been really good because we've got multiple guys that can do it.