Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was a walking contradiction during his media availability on Thursday. While Udoka downplayed the Rockets' offensive struggles and made it seem like solving the Los Angeles Lakers won't be difficult, Udoka also revealed that his team is suffering from a confidence deficiency.
When asked if the Rockets' offense has major issues or is simply not making shots, Udoka said the following:
"It's a little bit of both, I think. Not only making, but taking the right ones, and being aggressive, and making them pay when they sell out on Kevin (Durant). So we've got enough guys that can make those plays. I think second-guessing at times has taken us out of some."
It's too late in the season for the Rockets to solve confidence issues
While Udoka's honesty regarding Houston's lack of confidence in shooting the ball was refreshing to hear from the usually cagey Udoka, it was also alarming for Rockets fans. Why are NBA players having confidence problems 84 games into their season? Shouldn't these problems have been sorted through earlier in the campaign?
There are plenty of challenges and crises to overcome during a playoff series. Virtually every team goes through difficult injuries, terrible calls, and other misfortunes that must be overcome to survive and advance. But a lack of confidence? Second-guessing open jumpers? There's really not any room for that at this stage in the competition.
Udoka inadvertently admitted that the Rockets are nothing without KD
When you step back and digest Udoka's comments about his team's hesitancy to take open shots, the underlying message becomes clear, even if Udoka didn't intend to reveal it: Houston doesn't have any alpha-minded offensive players on its roster beyond Durant.
Alperen Sengun needs to be that second star who asserts himself offensively for the Rockets, but he hasn't been. Sengun is averaging less than 20 points per game through the first two contests of this series. He's done nothing to punish the Lakers for overloading on Durant.
Rockets never replaced the swagger of Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks
When Houston traded Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks to the Phoenix Suns in the Durant deal, they lost two guys who never lack confidence. You don't have to ask either of those two to take more open shots. But the Rockets made that trade knowing the value of Durant (valid), and assuming that Sengun could step into that Robin role and assert himself as an alpha-type scorer when needed (jury's still out).
Sengun is really, really good, but he can't go and get you 30 points on command. He's averaged right around 20 points per game over the last three seasons and hasn't seen an uptick in that average in nine playoff games so far. If the Rockets are going to win Game 3, it'll be because Sengun finally has a big scoring night, or someone else unexpected steps up to the plate and injects the Rockets with some swagger again.
Add us as a preferred source on Google