Ime Udoka on Rockets huge win over Bucks

Ime Udoka on Rockets huge win over Bucks

I don’t even know where to begin um obviously Giannis gets his numbers he lives at the line but what would you say of the work Jeff did to to vend him yeah I mean he is a hard guard you know 21 free throws so it’s downhill especially

You know when he has a slow first half he tend tend tend or usually comes out with that same aggressiveness or you know puts his head down tries to get to free throw line he did that in the second half so uh we can live with one

Guy kind of going off and keep everybody else under wraps and you know although Lillard had 18 and middle hit Middleton hit some late shots you know three for n 5 for 16 we can live with and I think we did a great job on them initially first

Half and they kind of got going a little bit especially in that fourth quarter but yeah yeah it’s a tough one and you got to pick your poison at times and we’ve shown that this year that when we can kind of go after everybody else and

Let one guy get loose we have good good results usually overall were you pleased defensively especially with the first half oh yeah it was it was great first half it was one of our best in a while especially against a highsc scoring team you know I think they had it close to

130 on us last time and they score pretty high against most teams so great first half um you know like I said they try to impose their will and game got a little mucked up and little ugly in the in the second half but um you know held

On and could have played better but um happy with the result on the second night of back to back third quarter they kind of narrowed it Jeff it to pretty big threes how nice of it is have a guy who can space the four put the ball in

The deck just kind of a steady guy like Jeff yeah we understand how they’re guarding how they’re defending with Lopez he’s going to be back and protect the paint and you I have a lot of experience against him obviously and so my message to Jeff and Jabari when he’s

At the five our shooting bigs was to let it fly and be aggressive there um you know R Williams had nine for 17 threes against him in game seven and you know he’s going to guard the way he guards and so it was big for Jeff to come up

With those and Jabari as well coach your observations on Jabari tonight yeah a great game he wasn’t scoring a ton especially early on I mean you know he finishes with 14 I think he had four six a half time and U but he played a beautiful game up until that point even

With not a ton of scoring and so he was a big part of guarding Yiannis extremely well in the first half and on Middleton a time so played the perfect game let it come to him and took what with the game kind of gave him and um was a big reason

We were up 20 in the first half how special is it that Jeff is doing this at 37 years old yeah I mean yeah it is impressive um you know extra athletic still and so U but very motivated takes care of his body uh takes pride in his

Craft and like I think it’s a testament to his work every day and kind of what he rubs off on the team but um yeah it’s it’s kind of crazy when you think about it still playing at that level know very reliable for us and and we ask him to a

Lot of times when guys are in foul trouble or um guarding all over the place so um kudos to him how are you guys able to limit um Damen L tonight with you with your defensive stops especially um in the first quarter I believe he had started like one or five

Or one or six yeah we really put an emphasis on pickup point you know high pickup point with him um not letting him get comfortable threw some bigger bodies at him and then big piece was alprin was extremely high on him in the pick and

Roll and you know we wanted to be more of a crowd then obviously even our normal touch being up to touch you know and so he beat him a few times Drew Drew a crowd in the first quarter you know got a a layup and then got u a wide open

Three in the corner um but you know our big thing was to limit him after his 39o uh performance against us last time and alurn was a big piece of that but through multiple bodies Fred wanted to guard him a ton and I think just throwing fresh bodies on him kind of

Warmed down in time with all the free throws and the stoppages was it hard to get into any sort of a rhythm offensively especially after half time yeah it felt like it the game felt long 2 237 I mean it was a lot of challenges and reviews and fouls and free throws

And so um you know with all those that drug on in the second half and you know they they came out and tried to make it like that and put their head down like I said after the compo would and um yeah it was not as flowing as we’d like but

We had a part to do with that with the fouling and kind of stopping ourselves so you know get it done either way way and we’d like to get out and play Fast against that team a bigger slower team but um you know we grinded it out the

Right way so we’ll take it what do to say about your team that the night after a couple of players said that Minnesota was a more physical team you hold the Bucks to their second least points of the Season at 108 without two of your best defenders yeah we we talked about

That today and we watched film from our last Milwaukee game when you know they scored a lot but it was a lot of Second Chance points and you know 22 in last game they only had eight tonight so we took pride in that and all the EX all the Second Chance points offensive

Rebounds they had last night so it was good bounce back um you know the message at halftime was that’s who we are on a consistent basis not not what we saw last night and so um it was felt good to uh see our real team come back but I

Said you know it’s usually look at that like a one off because we have been competitive and physical most of the year what do you like about what do you like about pairing uh Cam and am man on the FL together specifically yeah the size versatility athleticism you know

Speed and so um I think they compliment each other well because they can do a lot of similar things as far as guarding multiple guys um you know it’s a more switchable unit when they’re out there and usually Jeff’s at the five and so kind of even across the board with big

Wings and you know a little undersized at the at the five spot but when you have Jabari out there you have some length and size as well so um you know that’s it it’s been a really good group for us for the most part I think going

Back to the New Orleans game they got us back in the game and then uh Detroit and and Brooklyn they were really good as well so a little rough patch last game with that group but um for the most part for us out of five them been really good

Defensively and then those stops turn into uh offense the AL passed to Jabari about a minute and a half left was that a correction almost from the third quarter when it seemed like he was rushing towards the help defense coming and got stuck in crowd was that on his

Part a good adjustment yeah I think so I think we W they were doing a lot of pre- switching to put a certain Defender up there they want to keep Lopez out of the action so we just went to a simple ball screen with Alin there and no Fred’s

Going to get a get a shot or hit the pocket and from there they always collapse and so um you know where he tried to rush it I done my message him in a few timeouts was stop looking for the foul shoot it or make a play for

Somebody else and he took what they gave him obviously has good Vision good passing ability and a huge fine for Jabari in the corner when so they Ed Jackson on him with a big coming to help on the Move am I correct in thinking that’s the defense you used with Marcus

Smart for a year yeah similar but for us um you know Alie is such a good passer that even if the help comes he can still make guys pay and then you know our wings need to be versatile enough to involve Lopez in the action or

You know be confident enough to knock it down when he comes to help and so uh we’ll do both you know go to Al knowing the help’s going to come and it’s going to generate offense there or um bring Jaan and Jeff who it was into the play

And um you know they got to be a playmaker out of it or be confident shooting so I try to do a little bit of both but we got a lot of good little combination going on tonight than thank you

Houston Rockets Fan Information Source

Ime Udoka talked to the Houston media after the Houston Rockets stunned the Milwaukee Bucks on 1/6/2024. Udoka talked about Jeff Green’s impact, Jabari Smith Jr’s “beautiful game”, the Amen Thompson-Cam Whitmore chemistry and the adjustments the Milwaukee Bucks made defending Alperen Sengun.