The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Ime Udoka Talks Recent Struggles, “The Energy Is Not There”

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

Ime Udoka Talks Recent Struggles, “The Energy Is Not There”

11-01, Sports Talk 790. We're going to spend 10 minutes with our friend E. Mayedoka. Rockets will be taken on the Oklahoma City Thunder tomorrow on OKC. We'll visit with Coach about what has happened so far. The last couple of nights, disappointing performances, obviously against Boston and against Charlie. Coach, thank you for the time. It feels like, and this happens with every NBA team, you've certainly been to ling long enough. Maybe there's sometimes a race to the All-Star break.

And you guys, especially your stars, have played a lot of minutes. And I know that's an excuse, but how much? much does that play a factor with the way that maybe you think your squads play the last couple nights? I mean, it looks like our energy isn't there, no doubt. And so for us, you know, before the Boston game, we talked about our last five games with Boston Charlotte going to O'KC and then the clippers on the back to back. We want to finish on a good note. A lot of teams in the league is struggling, are struggling right now. And we don't want to be one of those. We want

to go the opposite way. And obviously, haven't had the right energy. or competitiveness in the last two games. And one of the things that has been such a trademark of your team while you've been in charge is winning the 50-50 balls. And I'm sure there's a metrics that's determined that the last couple of games. And it feels like those have not been a part of the Rockets' repertoire the last couple nights. Yeah, that's that's stood out for sure. That and lack of rebounding, I think, you know, you can count 50-50 balls,

or offensive rebounds for other teams. And, you know, to be to give up 20 against Boston. be out rebounding last night on offensive glass by Charlotte, you know, a team that's playing more small than, you know, one or two bigs at a time. Shows that the competitiveness on the glass is not there. The race to those balls is not there in areas that we usually dominated. We're getting beaten. There was a comment that you were responding to about the pick and roll with Alpi, and there was some defensive issues again last night. That's got to be something that, you know, that Alpy's got to feel bad about.

obviously that he got used a couple of times on baskets. He was so fluid offensively and then the last couple of the games. Is that ankle causing maybe perhaps more issues that he was, he's one of the lead on to be at this point? I mean, there's fatigue, no doubt. And, you know, when you tweak it a few times, you're going to be a little limited with your movement. But I don't think Alperin was going to use that as an excuse.

So, you know, obviously played through it and had a great game in Indiana. And it's going to be up and down until you can kind of rest it. But, you know, I think. Just in general, it's not just on the LP, picking roll as a two men defense, two people have the guard, and our guards are getting clipped way too easily on screens and not really fighting through, so it's tough when guys are coming downhill. You've got a lot of threat behind you, and we just need to do a better job overall, being up at the level initially to take them off the jump shot and then keeping the roller

in front of you. On that, you're not teaching this. I mean, these are grown men that have been playing basketball a long time. They've been around picking rolls all their life. but what kind of adjustments can you make? Is it simply showing Alpi or anybody else involved in that, that here's what's happening on videos. You've got to fight through these things.

You've got to be able to get a step ahead. What do you all of a sudden in the middle of the season when you're trying to play three games and four nights to say, hey, if this is on tape, other teams are going to try to do this against you? No, you definitely can teach it and still walk through it and shoot-arounds and get our technique back to where we were. You know, obviously training campus for those reasons.

And when you're one of the best in the league at it, you know, the technique starts to slip, obviously. And so for us, like I said, it's not just Alperin. It's the guys impacting the ball, getting into the ball when the screen's there and kind of fighting over and blowing it up. But that's the first point of it. And so, you know, we're taking a circular route to try to get back in front or running right into the screen, which leads two on one. And so it starts with the ball handler. We always put the onus on them to get through and contest guys and get back in their rearview.

but if not I'll be as to play two for a second hold it up for a little bit and let guys get back in front without giving up the lob like I said a similar bad stretch

last year heading into the all-star break and then of course we know in December with a lot of traveling games on the road there were some losses that you guys would have

like to not have what do you take away from that as far as trying to get out of this funk the shooting will come back around eventually and that was the case

in December So it's a little bit different here where, you know, yeah, guys aren't playing at their best, no doubt, but the energy and the competitiveness was there in December. It was just a case of missed shots. And if you don't compete at the level we did and you miss the shots like we did, there would have been a lot of blowouts, but there were very close games. There's some overtime losses. And so that's what we got to get back to, the edge and just the competitiveness on the defensive side, offensively, being aggressive and confident still. And that's the main thing now. You know, it's just missing shots before.

And we're still in games. But now we've got to bring the juice and energy that we didn't have in these last two games. Rocket Head coach, IMA Adoka, with us here on Sports Talk 790. No moves made at the trade deadline. Was there anything that, as far as discussions you were involved in, where there were some moves that were possibly close? And I guess it seems like the shock topic is that you guys might be active in trying to find some buyout moves. Yeah.

no doubt people called. We have a lot of young talented players and a deep team, so teams for definitely calling about our guys that we like where we're at, I think, with our group. You know, you have Fred out, you have Stephen out, so some of our depth has gone there and some of our, you know,

veteran leadership and IQ in those things, but the team that we have now has got us to support place in the West right now, not playing our best right now, and we know we have a much higher ceiling where we can get to. And so what we want to see is just get back to who we've been, you know a lot of teams are struggling right now if you look at the standings or the the streaks right now

we're seven and three in our last 10 even with those two losses and a bunch of teams are five and five four and six you know kind of going through it right now and that's when you look at okayc or minnesota or the teams right around us a lot of teams are going through this right for all-star break so what we're going to do is stay of the course with our guys see growth and improvement with our young guys throughout the rest of this season and that was our that was our mindset with it right now As far as a buyout, you know, there will be guys out there and there will be opportunities to look. And we obviously can do something then, but it has to fit, has to kind of go with our plan of improving with our young guys through the rest of the season. And seeing if anything we can add will help us like really, really jump into that lineup. You know, it's tough to beat out some of the guys that we have now.

And so we'll look at that when the time comes. Hey, I don't know if Rafael and you were on conference calls or Rafael came to you, but were there some calls you took that were like, are you kidding me or are you too late in the game to be doing silly kind of trade proposals? I mean, there always are. Guys will throw out names of the guys they like and, you know, throughout scenarios and it's just really exploratory things. And I think for the most part, we shut those down pretty quickly. But no, when you have the amount of talent that we have and guys that some of the guys aren't starters,

that would be starters in other teams, teams that are definitely going to call about them. and throw out some ridiculous trades and stuff like that. But obviously we love our crew. We love the core of our team. And like I said, it's all about getting back to doing what we were doing previously before these few games. And when it comes to buyout guys and maybe grabbing somebody late, is that an agent to GM call? Can a player call you? Can you speak to them?

What are the rules about that kind of stuff? No, I mean, once guys get bought out, their agents look for the best situation for them and, you know, kind of canvas the league. in rosters for situations that might be a good fit. And, you know, it's got to be a mutual thing. But, yeah, for us, like I said, it's going to take something incredible to, you know, crack our rotation and, you know, kind of displace some of the guys that are playing really well for us. And so we're more focused on ourselves, no doubt.

There will be some things that will probably be appealing. But we'll see when the time comes. It's definitely a two-way street as far as that. Let's go to read real quick for a let you run. There have been some magical games for him. Obviously, he's playing much more than they ever played last year, and he's given you much more production, but there has been a slump of him about the last five or six games.

I don't know if you want to chalk it up to additional minutes going against the greatest players in the world. Ball doesn't leave his hands well, angles. Where have you seen the down production from Reed, say, in the last two weeks or so? Yeah, definitely just the main shots, I think, you know, similar to Jabari going through it earlier, and I'll be going through it at times. Young guys specifically are going to have these throughout their car.

career, especially early on. And so it's mentally staying confident, continuing to be aggressive, you know, and then slowing down and taking and making the same shots you got. You know, you can't get better looks than we are with a lot of guys. And for us, it's not rushing the shot or getting anxious with misses. But also, you don't want to just determine a great game on made shots only. And so that's what we reiterate the point to the guys, that if you're missing shots, there's still other ways to impact the game. And we've seen guys do that without scoring a ton, but obviously for scorers and shooters, it can get

into your head a little bit when you're missing these open shots. You start to press a little bit, but we want guys to stay confident and aggressive, knowing that just takes one game to kind of get out of that shooting slump, but it sucks that it does happen to everybody. And then the worst part is when it's a bunch of guys at the same time.

You know, it's a kind of snowball effect there. And we've seen games this year that would happen. And right now, if you guys are going through it. Well, let's end on a positive note. Jabari Smith Jr. was 17 points last night. Nice to see him bouncing back, and the three-point shooting has been better from that slump that he went to in the middle of January. Just your overall thoughts on him on both ends of the floor. And specifically, that kind of pet go-to bread and buttershot of his, that pull-up mid-range is really going down nicely.

Yeah, like I said, it's just continued to stay the course. You know, trust the work that you put in. We have faith that guys will continue to work their way out of these shooting slumps. he did that. And so it was great to see him back, you know, making the shots that he was making at a high clip early in the year. And we know that's always going to happen. It's going to come back around. But, you know, as you're going through it, it's hard. But guys understand that they have to continue to be aggressive, continue to not shy away from things. And then, like I said, impact the game in other ways. But Jabari, with this size and versatility, you can get to that

spot and pretty much shoot it over anybody. And so good to see him, obviously, knocking down the threes, getting back to his mid-range pull-up, which he's very, very good. confident and comfortable in. And like I said, once he starts to make his like he has, and Alpy gets his touch back around the basket, and Reid makes these shots, you'll see it start to flip for us again. Eman, thanks for the time. Good luck, AOLC. We'll see you on the plane this afternoon, and we appreciate you joining us as always. Thank you.