Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka threw his young players under the bus following a Game 3 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. When asked during the postgame presser what he said to his team, Udoka said, “Grow up, and you’re not that young anymore. You’ve been to the playoffs once, and we watched every situation just now.”
The situations alluded to by Udoka weren't pretty. Senseless turnovers by Reed Sheppard and Jabari Smith Jr. allowed the Lakers to win a game in which they trailed by six points with under 30 seconds remaining. It was a complete choke job by Houston; there's no sugarcoating that. But that doesn't mean Udoka needed to scapegoat his players publicly in such a fashion.
“Horrendous mistakes. I don’t know if you want to say youth or scared of the moment or whatever the case (may be)," Udoka added, who went on to describe Sheppard's and Smith's blunders without naming them specifically. Udoka also revealed that the Rockets failed to run the play he drew up for them on their final possession of regulation.
Ime Udoka didn't help his Rockets players ahead of Game 4
For a head coach who's been publicly wondering whether his players lack confidence, Udoka didn't do anything to fix that problem with his comments after Game 3. Rather than adopt a "next play" mentality, remain positive, and start establishing winning vibes heading into Game 4 -- a must-win for Houston -- Udoka chose to dwell on the negative and deflect blame for everything that went wrong.
Sheppard and Smith's errors were completely unexcusable, but that doesn't make Udoka's approach to things correct. Udoka's self-preserving, pointless venting after Game 3 stood in stark contrast to the way JJ Redick addressed his players following the contest. Redick took blame for mistakes he and his staff made during overtime, and he also went around the room and praised players who exemplified poise during a chaotic basketball game that resembled a rollercoaster.
The Rockets look like a team ready to turn on each other ... and get swept
There have been ominous feelings of distrust, secrecy, and mutiny surrounding the Rockets all season, mostly due to Kevin Durant's silly burner situation that actually became serious (and sad) once everyone started realizing that KD's tweets were real and ... kind of accurate.
Udoka's behavior recently has more or less fallen in line with that attitude in Houston. Everyone's quick to blame everyone else and not take some accountability for themselves. No one is talking about what they can do better to help the team win. The Rockets don't look like a team that is sacrificing for each other in search of a common goal. They are a bunch of individuals with separate agendas, making them easy food for this cohesive and tight-knit Lakers group (even without LA's best two offensive weapons).
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