Even though the Houston Rockets are the only team in the league without a road victory, 17 games into the 2023–24 campaign, the fans nevertheless appreciate the leaps and bounds the team has made.
And it’s all thanks to the brilliant coaching of one Ime Udoka, the coach who revived the Boston Celtics and brought them to the 2022 NBA Finals. With smart defensive tactics, superb rotations, outstanding plays, and effective player-to-player communication, he has, no doubt, revitalized the team in Boston.
This year, he’s determined to do the same thing to the Rockets.
Rockets vs Lakers: Udoka gets ejected
In their second matchup of the season, the Rockets and Lakers entered the crypto.com arena in high spirits. However, this competitiveness tipped over to anger as the game was nearing its end.
And surprisingly, Udoka got himself into trouble this time as well.
The Lakers had a 16-point advantage (93-77) over the Rockets with only 8:35 left in the game. And as a fight ensued between Lakers’ Cam Reddish and Rockets’ Tari Eason in the court, the spectators were somehow blinded by the altercation that had shortly followed.
Cam Reddish Walks into Tari Eason and gets a technical
Prince also shoves Tari
Ime Udoka gets ejected
Lebron gets a technical
madness lol pic.twitter.com/LW5U9EY0gQ
— Tedd Buddwell 🏀🏈 (@TedBuddy8) December 3, 2023
In a replay, Lebron James was seen walking up to the Rockets’ bench, where he subsequently engaged in a seemingly unfriendly spat with Udoka. A few moments later, Referee J.T. Orr emerged near the two and heard the back-and-forth. Deciding that he didn’t like the exchange and their choice of words, the official awarded each a tech, and since it was Udoka’s second in the game, he was forced to exit from the court and resign to the locker room.
Dave McMenamin of ESPN provided the specifics of what transpired on X (formerly Twitter).
Ime Udoka was just tossed from the game for picking up his second technical foul of the game. This one came after him and LeBron James were jawing at each other and both got T'd up – Udoka's second and James' first
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 3, 2023
In their respective post-match interviews, Udoka and James refused to divulge what the exchange was all about.
Udoka merely said that they simply “had conversations” and that they were given fouls because the official didn’t like what they heard.
James, on the other hand, said that they were simply talking about ‘Thanksgiving’ and how much they enjoyed it.
Reporter: "What were you and Ime [Udoka] talking about?"
LeBron James: "Thanksgiving. How much we enjoyed Thanksgiving."
Reporter: “It looked very friendly."
LeBron James: “Yeah, it was." 😅
(via @SpectrumSN)
pic.twitter.com/SNX3Jyy7ZG— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) December 3, 2023
Houston Rockets standings
The Lakers defeated the Rockets 107-97, handing them their ninth loss of the season.
Currently, the Rockets are tenth in the Western Conference, standing with a winning percentage of .471 and record of 8-9.
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