Ime Udoka says Houston Rockets defense an “embarrassment” against Blazers

Ime Udoka says Houston Rockets defense an “embarrassment” against Blazers

Okay here we go coach how would you categorize that over time Peri into the floor um it was not carryover from what we did in the fourth to basically give oursel a chance to win I think um you know too much hero ball oneon-one not not the ball moving what kind of got

Us back in and then defensively didn’t have the same intensity that we were scrambling going after him so um I mean it’s kind of the indicative of the third quarter and 57 in the first half 41 in that quarter didn’t come out with any intensity or defensive mindset at all I think when

Games are were scoring easy we scored 30 plus in every quarter um you know we sometimes get too comfortable and to give up 41 in that third quarter was an embarrassment were you guys surprised at all by the trapping that happened in the fourth and how do you think you guys

Kind of adjusted to that trap no no surprised they’ shown that on tape they’ll go after guys I don’t think we handled it well um you know whether it was a guy slipping out and not giving an outlet to Fred or us kind of just throwing the ball over the place like

Let invite the Trap find an outlet and you have numbers on the backside and so we handled that poorly and Thal made a huge impact on the game with that but um you know that said we had a bunch of wide open shots that we got out of those

Actions um that we missed but uh you know credit they hit a big shot when they when they counted and we had had our chances to extend the lead wide open threes Jaylen missed a dunk missed some free throws so much better on the fourth not great in overtime and and obviously

The third quarter was not where we want to be you mentioned the defensive rebounding before the game why has that become such a problem well jabari’s not there tonight obviously tar is a big piece of that and then um you know emphasis that it’s kind of slipped for

Sure um you know I think 23 Second Chance points you know from them 12 offensive rebounds including the big one late uh rot ations aren’t on point behind it and it’s it’s what we’ve seen at times this year in different areas like we’ve been really good at that PO

To start the year got really good and then slippage and when you can’t practice or or kind of go over those things but um at the Midway point you got to have those basics down and obviously that would have just won us a game tonight that alone what led to the

Decision to go away from Dylan for so long other guys playing well Aaron was obviously um guarding Simons really well um and Jeff was solid on on grant for the most part until he hit some late shots but um yeah that was really it we like the matchups defensively there and

Those guys had it go a little bit I think uh our bench came in gave us a boost in there and was a big part of that you spoke about the three-point defense before the game tonight they shot 43% do you just tip your cap to

Some of the shots they made or do you see anything out there tonight about was kind of some of the recurring problems defensively a few guys I mean Simon’s going to take and make some tough shots and thall hit three for three up until I

Think the late Miss there so he he he made some that you know we’re not really counting on but um yeah I mean they hit some big ones and in late and shot clock type um uh Simons really hit some tough ones until we kind of went after him but

Um just in general I think the awareness on certain guys wasn’t there you know um Fred one time guarding T I’m sorry he’s guarding uh Simons and Rogen comes off and totally under control you got to inch out and get to those three-point Shooters especially the best guys so um

That’s been a problem this year with a lot of our guys like recogniz anyone to be in the shift and who you’re guarding and so Simon’s got some of those but yeah not our best effort although Simon hit some tough ones and obviously the late ones hurt

Us shot that uh at the end of regulation was there any other FR couldn’t have played any better right I mean you it’s it’s tough to foul at that point you know 1.6 or 1.9 whatever it was um you can be there on the catch and if he’s

Going away from the basket it’s risky you know he’s going to go into his shooting motion so something we discussed and if you obviously can catch catch him we put some height on the ball as great pass over ban and and you know obviously a tough fadeaway shot that hit

That banked it in but you know it’s not really always about that play it’s all the things that led up before it and like I said our defense was on point like it should have been in the third allowed them to get back in the game

Take a lead and then um you know you missing some open shots that could obviously extend the lead so it doesn’t always come down to the last shot and I think he guarded as well as he could have this the anything else was this the most frustrating loss of the season leading

In those closing moments than watching it kind of slip away in overtime I think we’ve had a few this year and I think um you our effort we got back to playing and being aggressive and scrambling in the fourth and so that was a positive based based on what we looked like in

The third and then um you know they hit a tough shot so obviously it would be a totally different game if they missed that but the mistakes are still the mistakes and and got to clean those up so we’ve had a few frustrating ones no doubt I think the over time you know

That carry over from what we did well in the forth that wasn’t a positive so yeah I think everybody’s pissed off in there thanks

Houston Rockets Fan Information Source

Ime Udoka talks to reporters after the Houston Rockets shockingly lost at home to the Portland Trail Blazers on 1/24/2024. Alperen Sengun scored 30 points and Jalen Green scored 29 but the defense, particularly from the starters, was awful.