April 17, 2025 • 9 mins
Ime Udoka Joins The Show Before Game 1 of NBA Playoffs
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Uh on Sports Talk seven ninety I am I'm gonna
tell you right now. I'm gonna repeat this again. Do
not listen to the dubbed nation podcast. I have zero
interest in that whatsoever. We got like a five million podcast.
Listen to music, listen to a jazz podcast or something
like that. Don't listen to that thing. Let's uh literally
(00:30):
off the practice court. The Sahida us for a few minutes.
Is the head coach of the Houston Rockets ema a
doka emy. It's Matt and Ross. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
How was practice today? It was good. It was very
eventful and lively. Guys.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
They're getting after it the last few days. Happy to
be back on the court after a few days of
rest and looking forward to the series.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
All right, lively and eventful meaning that am I getting
elbows throwing at each other, anybody fighting with each other?
Just all competitive spirited.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Practice, competitive spirit overall, like we always do, especially when
we go out of each other.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
But I think we got a little liver shot from Fred.
Other than that, we're good.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Somebody protecting you too. I don't need you down. I
was down last week. Don't I need you ready to
go for this week?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm good. I'm good with the kids out there, all right,
I got you.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Hey, have you had that quote unquote talk yet about
life's about to change for you boys in the next
handful of days playing the same opponent at least four times,
maybe as many as seven.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I mean, we talked about the playoffs and the experience
for the guys for the first time, and you know
how it's the privilege to be playing at this time
of year. So half of our guys have been there,
obviously the young guys haven't. But what we're trying to
do with overall simplify and keep it simple, keep it
basketball and talk about what we do and how it
carries it well into the playoffs, and so not make
(01:54):
it more than it is. It is an opponent we'll
see multiple times, but my guys have played in high
pressure situations throughout this year at times, and we'll be
prepared for that. But like I said, keeping it simple,
keeping a basketball and not trying of overthink.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It through the kitchen sink defensively at Steph Curry went
one for ten, we could go Saturday against Golden State.
How much of that was spent looking at that film
vivin the memory of the guy's minds and what can
you do beyond just the fact irritating best you, candid
to replicate.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
That well, understanding that it's not a one on one thing.
It's a full team defensive scheme. When you have four
guys on their team hunting shots for him, you have
to have four or five on your team preventing those shots.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So it's not just one guy.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Denying him, being all over him, taking away pick and
roll and all those things, especially with all the off
ball screens, as everybody being on the same page, the
communication being great, and when we're doing that, we're in
good shape.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
When he gets off the ball, relocates.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
And guys get cost standing you know, he gets those,
he's gets those relocation threes and a lot of like
I said, they're all hunting shots for him, and so
we have to be on point.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And that's where we were in that game. So I
have to duplicate that effort.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
What is it like for you as a coach and
with the staff as well, just preparing for this one
opponent going into game one as far as adjustments that
could happen as well, maybe not even wanting to overprepare,
not wanting to underprepare. What is that like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It's busier at this time.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, of course you have all these days to prepare
for one opponent multiple games, like you said, and so
during the season, you play one team and you're on
to the next, and you know you're not going as
in depth.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You have to do that here.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Take away certain actions, take away certain personnel, and you
can dig much deeper into that.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so for us, it's great to have this time.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Obviously we earned it to not be in the plan
to have these days of rest in preparation, and now
it's our chance to get out there and execute. But
for us, especially against a team like Going State that
does a lot of different things, especially with their off
ball actions, we have to be on point, like I said,
with our communication and coverage, and when we do that,
we're gonna shape. We showed that throughout the year in
our meetings with them, holding him to low points. I
(04:06):
think Curry averaged sixteen against this overall in those games,
so we've done a pretty.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Good job on him.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
But understanding that others are there as well, and Butler's
added to the picture. We've only played against him once
this year, so that'll be a newer challenge.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Yeah, you mentioned Butler getting added to the picture. So
they've obviously been a very good team twenty three and
seven with him in the lineup. What does he do
and what does he bring to the table that makes
him so much better?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Well, another facilitator that you know, can obviously take some
of the pressure off of Curry. He's the isolation guy,
which they didn't have much of without without Curry and
some you know, losing Wiggins and some of those guys,
and so a guy that can create his own shot
obviously brings a defensive mentality and you've seen seen the
numbers as far as that with him in the lineup.
But the main thing is that you know, a one
(04:51):
A one B batman, Robin whatever you want to call it,
another guy that can create his own shot, command double teams,
and he's a really good facilitator.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
So it's not just Draymond bring getting guys involved.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
He's looking looking to pass the ball as well or
create for himself.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
He may we were there last week Draymond tried to
poke the bear that was Oupura and shing Gun basically
just praying for a technical foul. Got one that's going
to be in play again. Uh, how much did APPI
learn from that experience?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Know that more that it's coming. I would say we
already knew.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We talked about personnel and personnel in depth during the season.
So certain guys, you know, bringing that edge and toughness
and physicality and we'll talk as well. And so Green
has been one of the best at that, and that's
what he brings for his team. Uh. And so for
Alpi is just keeping his composure, you know, not backing
down from the challenge, but also going at it and
(05:45):
then when the chippiness happens, just continue to play through it.
And so he did an excellent job of that. Of course,
the end of that half was a lot of back
and forth. That last minute felt like it took five
or so with all the fouls and re looking at
looking at the reviews and all those things. And so
for us it's a keep our composer, continue to play.
We play a physical brand as well, so we know
(06:06):
where it can get to. But especially in the playoffs,
it's too important to have guys kicked out of games,
and so you have to keep composer and play through everything.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
So many folks he may have discussed the double big lineup.
You've thrown it there with Adams and with Shnghun out
there together. Of all the teams you wouldn't normally play
a lot of that, it would be against Golden State.
So I've asked you this once before and it's worthy
you's certainly come playoff time. How much do you want
to dictate that? How much do you want to surprise
him by that? And how much are you're going to
see what they do, and whether or not you can
(06:36):
go without that double big lineup and when to use
it in spots during the course of the series.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I mean, for us, it's something that works very well.
It's you know, you can see it on the court.
The numbers show it as well. But that team has
been very successful out there, and so we won't go
away from that. Of course, we'll use the things that
have worked for us throughout the season, and so we
can do that. Obviously, run some different things schematically defensively
to hide high certain matchups and lineups.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
But this is something you definitely want to take advantage
of it. But it's not just a piece of it.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Obviously, in the last Golden State game alone, we went
with a double big we went traditional to start and
then we went small ball with Jabari at the five
and a bunch of athletic long wings out there. And
so the versatility that we have is just another piece
of it and keeps teams off Dard I think keeps
teams out of rhythm. You add the zone in there
and some of the things we do offensively with attacking
up glass, it gives people problems and so definitely something
(07:27):
we'll use and continue to go to.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
And what is that like, especially when you're talking about
rotations and things you're trying to do, is in the
playoffs and in a regular season, if you try something
it doesn't work out, okay, you move on. In the playoffs,
I mean, you can only lose four games in a
series and you're out, so kind of trying to figure
out a sample size of something and trying to decide
when something's working or when to go elsewhere, whether it
(07:50):
be rotations or things you're trying to do offensively or defensively.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, I mean you have to see what, like I said,
will work the well during the season and then under
standing certain lineups that you'd like to kind of deploy
it against. But at the same time, you still have
to make adjustments end game, and that's what the playoffs
is about, seeing what works well, scrapping something if it doesn't,
but also imposing your will. If we're a team that
plays big and they play a lot of small, somebody's
(08:16):
gonna have an advantage and it's up to us to defend
certain actions well but also punish them on the other end.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And so we'll look at that.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Like I said, we can always put up play the
zone like we've done at times with that double big lineup,
but we have some things we can go to, and
I think if you're punishing them to that extent, they
go back with their big lineups and it kind of
works in your favor.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Last question, he may do you like the way the
schedule lays out a couple of days in off in
between games one and two or do you like to
get them kind of every other day if you could.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, for us, I think it doesn't matter. I think
the rest is always a good thing. Maybe you'd like
to play them against an older team, you know, more frequent,
But we've had this time off and we're ready to
get back after it, especially with resting the team, resting
the guys in La on the Clipper Laker game, and
so got a little bit of a half for three quarters,
three runs in against Denver, and our guys are getting
(09:04):
after it now and ready to get into another series.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So it really doesn't matter to us the chance for adjustments.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You have a little bit more time for preparation in
between games if something doesn't work well, and so either
or it's fine with us, but you'll get to one
day off in between pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Really appreciate the visit tonight and congratulations on a fantastic
season and look forward to get catch up with Atty
on Sunday. And good luck in Game one against the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Thank you, you got it.
Uh on Sports Talk seven ninety I am I'm gonna
tell you right now. I'm gonna repeat this again. Do
not listen to the dubbed nation podcast. I have zero
interest in that whatsoever. We got like a five million podcast.
Listen to music, listen to a jazz podcast or something
like that. Don't listen to that thing. Let's uh literally
(00:30):
off the practice court. The Sahida us for a few minutes.
Is the head coach of the Houston Rockets ema a
doka emy. It's Matt and Ross. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
How was practice today? It was good. It was very
eventful and lively. Guys.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
They're getting after it the last few days. Happy to
be back on the court after a few days of
rest and looking forward to the series.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
All right, lively and eventful meaning that am I getting
elbows throwing at each other, anybody fighting with each other?
Just all competitive spirited.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Practice, competitive spirit overall, like we always do, especially when
we go out of each other.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
But I think we got a little liver shot from Fred.
Other than that, we're good.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Somebody protecting you too. I don't need you down. I
was down last week. Don't I need you ready to
go for this week?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm good. I'm good with the kids out there, all right,
I got you.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Hey, have you had that quote unquote talk yet about
life's about to change for you boys in the next
handful of days playing the same opponent at least four times,
maybe as many as seven.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I mean, we talked about the playoffs and the experience
for the guys for the first time, and you know
how it's the privilege to be playing at this time
of year. So half of our guys have been there,
obviously the young guys haven't. But what we're trying to
do with overall simplify and keep it simple, keep it
basketball and talk about what we do and how it
carries it well into the playoffs, and so not make
(01:54):
it more than it is. It is an opponent we'll
see multiple times, but my guys have played in high
pressure situations throughout this year at times, and we'll be
prepared for that. But like I said, keeping it simple,
keeping a basketball and not trying of overthink.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
It through the kitchen sink defensively at Steph Curry went
one for ten, we could go Saturday against Golden State.
How much of that was spent looking at that film
vivin the memory of the guy's minds and what can
you do beyond just the fact irritating best you, candid
to replicate.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
That well, understanding that it's not a one on one thing.
It's a full team defensive scheme. When you have four
guys on their team hunting shots for him, you have
to have four or five on your team preventing those shots.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So it's not just one guy.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Denying him, being all over him, taking away pick and
roll and all those things, especially with all the off
ball screens, as everybody being on the same page, the
communication being great, and when we're doing that, we're in
good shape.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
When he gets off the ball, relocates.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
And guys get cost standing you know, he gets those,
he's gets those relocation threes and a lot of like
I said, they're all hunting shots for him, and so
we have to be on point.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
And that's where we were in that game. So I
have to duplicate that effort.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
What is it like for you as a coach and
with the staff as well, just preparing for this one
opponent going into game one as far as adjustments that
could happen as well, maybe not even wanting to overprepare,
not wanting to underprepare. What is that like for you?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
It's busier at this time.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, of course you have all these days to prepare
for one opponent multiple games, like you said, and so
during the season, you play one team and you're on
to the next, and you know you're not going as
in depth.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You have to do that here.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Take away certain actions, take away certain personnel, and you
can dig much deeper into that.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
And so for us, it's great to have this time.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Obviously we earned it to not be in the plan
to have these days of rest in preparation, and now
it's our chance to get out there and execute. But
for us, especially against a team like Going State that
does a lot of different things, especially with their off
ball actions, we have to be on point, like I said,
with our communication and coverage, and when we do that,
we're gonna shape. We showed that throughout the year in
our meetings with them, holding him to low points. I
(04:06):
think Curry averaged sixteen against this overall in those games,
so we've done a pretty.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Good job on him.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
But understanding that others are there as well, and Butler's
added to the picture. We've only played against him once
this year, so that'll be a newer challenge.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Yeah, you mentioned Butler getting added to the picture. So
they've obviously been a very good team twenty three and
seven with him in the lineup. What does he do
and what does he bring to the table that makes
him so much better?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Well, another facilitator that you know, can obviously take some
of the pressure off of Curry. He's the isolation guy,
which they didn't have much of without without Curry and
some you know, losing Wiggins and some of those guys,
and so a guy that can create his own shot
obviously brings a defensive mentality and you've seen seen the
numbers as far as that with him in the lineup.
But the main thing is that you know, a one
(04:51):
A one B batman, Robin whatever you want to call it,
another guy that can create his own shot, command double teams,
and he's a really good facilitator.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
So it's not just Draymond bring getting guys involved.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
He's looking looking to pass the ball as well or
create for himself.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
He may we were there last week Draymond tried to
poke the bear that was Oupura and shing Gun basically
just praying for a technical foul. Got one that's going
to be in play again. Uh, how much did APPI
learn from that experience?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Know that more that it's coming. I would say we
already knew.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We talked about personnel and personnel in depth during the season.
So certain guys, you know, bringing that edge and toughness
and physicality and we'll talk as well. And so Green
has been one of the best at that, and that's
what he brings for his team. Uh. And so for
Alpi is just keeping his composure, you know, not backing
down from the challenge, but also going at it and
(05:45):
then when the chippiness happens, just continue to play through it.
And so he did an excellent job of that. Of course,
the end of that half was a lot of back
and forth. That last minute felt like it took five
or so with all the fouls and re looking at
looking at the reviews and all those things. And so
for us it's a keep our composer, continue to play.
We play a physical brand as well, so we know
(06:06):
where it can get to. But especially in the playoffs,
it's too important to have guys kicked out of games,
and so you have to keep composer and play through everything.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
So many folks he may have discussed the double big lineup.
You've thrown it there with Adams and with Shnghun out
there together. Of all the teams you wouldn't normally play
a lot of that, it would be against Golden State.
So I've asked you this once before and it's worthy
you's certainly come playoff time. How much do you want
to dictate that? How much do you want to surprise
him by that? And how much are you're going to
see what they do, and whether or not you can
(06:36):
go without that double big lineup and when to use
it in spots during the course of the series.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
I mean, for us, it's something that works very well.
It's you know, you can see it on the court.
The numbers show it as well. But that team has
been very successful out there, and so we won't go
away from that. Of course, we'll use the things that
have worked for us throughout the season, and so we
can do that. Obviously, run some different things schematically defensively
to hide high certain matchups and lineups.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
But this is something you definitely want to take advantage
of it. But it's not just a piece of it.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
Obviously, in the last Golden State game alone, we went
with a double big we went traditional to start and
then we went small ball with Jabari at the five
and a bunch of athletic long wings out there. And
so the versatility that we have is just another piece
of it and keeps teams off Dard I think keeps
teams out of rhythm. You add the zone in there
and some of the things we do offensively with attacking
up glass, it gives people problems and so definitely something
(07:27):
we'll use and continue to go to.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
And what is that like, especially when you're talking about
rotations and things you're trying to do, is in the
playoffs and in a regular season, if you try something
it doesn't work out, okay, you move on. In the playoffs,
I mean, you can only lose four games in a
series and you're out, so kind of trying to figure
out a sample size of something and trying to decide
when something's working or when to go elsewhere, whether it
(07:50):
be rotations or things you're trying to do offensively or defensively.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yeah, I mean you have to see what, like I said,
will work the well during the season and then under
standing certain lineups that you'd like to kind of deploy
it against. But at the same time, you still have
to make adjustments end game, and that's what the playoffs
is about, seeing what works well, scrapping something if it doesn't,
but also imposing your will. If we're a team that
plays big and they play a lot of small, somebody's
(08:16):
gonna have an advantage and it's up to us to defend
certain actions well but also punish them on the other end.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And so we'll look at that.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Like I said, we can always put up play the
zone like we've done at times with that double big lineup,
but we have some things we can go to, and
I think if you're punishing them to that extent, they
go back with their big lineups and it kind of
works in your favor.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Last question, he may do you like the way the
schedule lays out a couple of days in off in
between games one and two or do you like to
get them kind of every other day if you could.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, for us, I think it doesn't matter. I think
the rest is always a good thing. Maybe you'd like
to play them against an older team, you know, more frequent,
But we've had this time off and we're ready to
get back after it, especially with resting the team, resting
the guys in La on the Clipper Laker game, and
so got a little bit of a half for three quarters,
three runs in against Denver, and our guys are getting
(09:04):
after it now and ready to get into another series.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So it really doesn't matter to us the chance for adjustments.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You have a little bit more time for preparation in
between games if something doesn't work well, and so either
or it's fine with us, but you'll get to one
day off in between pretty soon.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Really appreciate the visit tonight and congratulations on a fantastic
season and look forward to get catch up with Atty
on Sunday. And good luck in Game one against the Warriors.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Thank you, you got it.
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