The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Rockets Head Coach Ime Udoka: 'Looking Forward To Getting Back To Who We Are Tonight' When Hosting Cavaliers

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

The Houston Rockets will host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night for a huge interconference matchup, as the Cavaliers sit atop the Eastern Conference with a 36-6 record. The Rockets are coming off Monday's 107-96 loss to the Detroit Pistons. Cade Cunningham recorded 32 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. While the Pistons committed 23 turnovers, they were able to force the Rockets into 17 turnovers and convert it into 19 points. "We felt like we woke up a little bit late, coming off the west coast trip, early game, all those things. Bottom line was they outplayed us, out-hustled us, were more aggressive, and that has rarely happened this year, so looking forward to getting back to who we are tonight," Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said. Despite balanced scoring, the Rockets shot 39% and struggled from beyond the arc, making 11 of 39. "It was a rare off night for a lot of people. And then once our defense did settle down, we just didn't score at the rate that we needed to," Udoka said. The Rockets will look to return to the win column against a dominant Cavaliers team, led by Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland. "They present a lot of challenges and have a lot of balance." With Cavaliers center Evan Mobley ruled out of Wednesday's game, Alperen Sengun has an opportunity to improve upon his latest offensive struggles. "We invite the double teams that he attracts to garner a bunch of free shots for everybody else. But when they do guard you one-on-one, go make them pay," Udoka said. After Wednesday's contest, the Rockets will begin a four-game road trip that includes a back-to-back following the rescheduling of a game against the Atlanta Hawks. "I don't mind the road schedule at all. I think it builds character and toughness. We've obviously done a much better job this year than last year," Udoka said. The Rockets are currently 14-7 in road games so far this season.

But right now we preview the Rockets of Cavaliers with Ime Adoka who joins us here. Coach, I'm sorry about this weather. I knew when you took the job in Houston, you were thinking about 85 degrees every single day. But, you know, what's going to happen once every 25 or 30 years? That's why you're late, right? Yeah, got caught up in the snowstorm. No, it was interesting. I had never seen this in my time in Texas, but it was kind of pretty.

I must admit. It was pretty, but how did you do it in Boston? damn. I mean, that's happened all the time. And did you have a good snowblower? That was a key to my success in living in Minneapolis. I had a high-end snowblower to get rid of all that crap on the sidewalks. Yeah, some practice after my years in San Antonio, I went from Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston. So, had quite a bit of snow.

But lived in high-rise, so it didn't have to do the odds. Oh, I'm so jealous. So jealous. All right, EMA, let's get to first things first. The game against Detroit, stunned the 40-point. first core. That had to surprise you a little bit as well. And I got to get the sense from the guys in the locker room and certainly listen to you after the game that there was just a little more fire in the belly

from the Pissons a couple nights ago. And that hasn't happened a lot for your squad this year. Yeah, it's exactly what it was. I think there's a few things. Obviously, I called the timeout. I'm halfway through the quarter when it was 19 to 19 and both teams were kind of scoring at will and I said we're on pace for a 40-point

quarter given up, which we never do. And so, or rarely do. But I felt like we were scoring well enough and weren't giving any resistance on the other end. And so, you know, we gave that up, got back in it, obviously down 15 and to take a lead and then be tied at halftime. So we felt like we woke up a little bit late coming out to West Coast trip, early game, all those things.

But, yeah, bottom line was they out, played us, out hustled us. We're more aggressive. And that is rarely happened this year. So looking forward to getting back to who we are tonight. Yeah, 39 points in the second half, obviously was not what you wanted to see from your squad, although the defense did settle down. was it just a night of off shooting where there's some spots in the floor

that maybe some better shots could have been taken? A little bit of both. I think we guarded well enough, obviously. They had 17 in the fourth quarter, but we only scored 16. And so other than those six or seven free throws late in the quarter, we really guarded well, but to your point, weren't scoring enough.

I think they mixed it up with some zone and going after Jalen quite a bit. They guarded Alpi one-on-one, and we just didn't make them pay. I thought we saw a lot of blitzes on Dailen early in the season where we got some practice and we managed it well, but didn't really take advantage of that there. And then some of our other guys just missed shots that they usually make one-on-one situations.

And so it was a rare off night for a lot of people. And then once our defense did settle down, we just didn't score at the rate that we needed to. Yeah, Alpi, with a little bit of a difficult scoring night for himself with 11 points. And my only philosophy on him is this. And I don't know what you tell him in between games and practice and whatnot is, I don't mind it. I'd rather him go to the best. basket and take his chances against some rim protectors. Endurance, obviously a different kind of player, but he's gone against Gobert and Janus and some other folks, Yokic in the past.

That's when I find my most impressive times watching Alpi is, you know what, I'll see what I can do as compared to maybe taking the fade away and making them maybe a more difficult two-point attempt. How much do you talk about him going against an individual defender as the game is progressing? Yeah, I think for him, it's, if teams are going to guard him one-on-one, we have the belief that he's a score more often than that. And so you've seen it done, obviously, against some of the best post defenders in the league. And the thing is to be aggressive and not be hesitant, whether that's in the pick and roll, you know, the half roll where you kind of stop halfway instead of going all the way to basket

or in the post taking some of those fadeaways like you mentioned as well. So the rhythm guy that gets, you know, sees one or two go down and gets into a rhythm. Obviously, he has all the footwork and moves down there. But first and foremost, it should be to be aggressive and go score, especially when they're guarding you one-on-one. And so it's some easy ones that he would usually make. Obviously, five for 14 is a tough night for him with a lot of those coming inside. But like I said, a lot of guys had off nights as well.

But we want all the guys to be aggressive, you know, not give a defender or a scheme any credit or too much credit. Attack those like we have. And that's when we're at our best. You mentioned the five of 14 and his shooting percentage is down from where it's been the last couple of years and his career. What do you attribute that to? I mean, him and Jalen, they both. both had slow starts offensively, you know, from a percentage standpoint. I think we saw both guys come out of those fairly quickly.

It was just a lot of missed shots early in the season that we talked about. You know, our record would have been a little bit different early on if we scored. And, you know, now we're scoring at a high enough clip. And a big part is our aggressiveness. And so just continue to be aggressive and take the shots that are there. Like I said, don't second guess and give a defender or anybody too much credit. Go do what you do, especially if they're going to guard you one-on-one. We invite the double teams that he attracts to garner a bunch of free shots for everybody else.

But when they do guard, you want to want to go make them pay. And so we have motivated guys that are obviously very confident. And so look back to getting to what we do tonight. Rocket's head coach, Emil Adoko, with us here on Sports Talk 790. After tonight, eight of nine games on the road, two sets of four games and six nights. Is there any sort of conversations about altering or rotations or keeping guys? is fresh or is it going to be business as usual? We're looking at both.

I mean, obviously the makeup game in Atlanta adds one, adds a back-to-back after Boston there. And so for us, you know, we talk about our depth all the time and how we have very reliable guys. And so, you know, Tari coming off some things and different guys feeling things, Stephen was out with a migraine, obviously.

And so we rely on the guys that we have a hand, but no, we can go deeper if we need to. And so, yeah, for us, it's business as usual. You know, I don't mind the road schedule at all. I think it builds character and toughness. And we've obviously done much better job this year than last year. So let's get on the road. And it doesn't matter who we're playing or whatever the case is.

We want to hold ourselves to a certain standard and attack it with the same mentality like we do at home. Yeah, it certainly has been a tale of two seasons for this squad, 14 and 7 away from Mototisan in this year, which has been a lot of fun to watch and call. This Cleveland team, I mean, my goodness, six losses on the year. They shoot at almost 50%. they're making 40% of their threes. Now, you're not going to give us any company secrets, but have you been able to find something that you kind of say,

all right, if we take advantage of this, we can get at least one or maybe, hopefully both these games against Cavaliers coming up. Yeah, I mean, our thing is be who we are. And so a lot of teams don't defend at the level we do with the physicality we do. And so we're one of the best of taking away three-pointers. They're one of the best in making them. So it's always a battle as far as that.

And we've seen that throughout the year against third. certain teams. And so what we want to do is be aggressive, impose our will, and play our style of basketball. And so a lot of teams get taken aback by that by our physicality. I think Detroit did a good job against us with the blitzes and the physicality they used last game. And so we understand what works for us regardless of the opponent. We know a lot of people don't play the way we do. And so we could present some challenges as far as that. Other than that, it's we don't look at the record. We look at how we want to play where we're trying to get to. And we've beaten a lot of great opponents this year. And so Cleveland will present that same.

challenge. Yeah, they score 122 points a game. I'm going to assume that you, do you want to slow things down, or do you just want to make sure that everything in terms of defense is short up and that the good defense will turn into, and we've seen this so much this year, Coach, better offense for you guys. Yeah, we're not going to change the way we play. And what we rely on is, like I said, our defense and our toughness and the things that we can try to take away from them. But as you said, we've been our best when we can turn defense to offense, get out and transition, to have those high fast break numbers and let our guys get out and run. And so get the stops, get out and run where most teams are not great in transition defense.

And that's what we've had a good success with this year, getting the steals, getting in the open court. And everybody kind of having an equal opportunity as far as that. So we'll do that. We'll be aggressive there. And then obviously you got some guys to worry about Donovan Mitchell and Garland. They're playing a high level. They got some athletic mobile bigs, even though Mobley's out tonight. So that's why they're so good.

they present a lot of challenges and have a lot of balance. Despite the loss of Detroit, you had 18 steals in that contest. And a lot of them, I mean, Freddie out on guards just poking the ball away. And how much is that that's basketball one-on-one for these guys? Is that a little bit of taking their chances and hoping that they can go in there and not hopefully steal the ball away and not commit a foul? What makes a team and an individual player in your mind a good guy that, oh, and Tari does this too, just poking the ball away and forcing turnovers by just a guy just dribbling? Yeah, I mean, we have guys

A really good hands and instincts. And so Fred is as tough as they come. As far as that, I think I'm in and Tari are through the best in the league. And then dealing with his body position and physicality, we also will go after guys at certain points. And so we give our guys freedom to make plays and be aggressive. And like I said, when our steel numbers are high and their turnovers high, and we can convert those in transition.

We're in good shape. But a lot has to do with instincts or natural ability is something that's hard to teach. But, you know, Fred does that well. and obviously other guys as well. Coach, thanks for the visitors. As always, we'll see you later tonight at the arena, and best of luck against the Cavaliers. Thank you.

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