December 4, 2025 • 8 mins
Ime Udoka on the Rockets Recent Games and Their Upcoming Clash with Phoenix
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Twelve oh one on sports Talk SEMININTI. Let's spend ten
minutes with the head basketball coach of your Rockets who
disposed of the Sacramento Kings last night, Emadoka with US
Year on seven NINTI. Coach, it's Matt and Ross. I
gotta ask you, did you really call the team at
junior varsity squad at halftime last night?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I said, stop playing like one, looking like one, take
the ball to play with them, fourth and something like that.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
You're just the best team.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm gonna tell that right now, and I'm not trying
to blow smoke. I'm just saying you go in there
and they obviously listened to you. That is what did
you get the bluntness of your life? And I certainly
appreciate because I'm a very blunt person myself.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I just always liked honestly myself. You know, don't want
the coach or anybody you know, kind of blowing smoking.
So and you're direct with them and don't sugarcoat it.
They can tell if you're be a thing or lying anyway,
so might as we'll get them direct. And I think
guys respect that approach.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You certainly did that only did they cut the turnovers down.
You put it together an amazing third quarter, and the
three point shot was not a huge part of the
team in the second half. Were you surprised by that
or is that kind of what Sacramento dictated because they
gave you so many opportunities in the paint.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
No, we just take what the gang gives us. I
think you know, we'll shoot them if they're available. But
a lot of times they were bringing their big up
in the pick and roll to take away some of
our walking threes. When we hit out bringing guys in
the pocket, they stayed locked up on some of our shooters,
which allowed us to get downhill and get to the paint.
And obviously, if we're gonna get all those paint points
seventy eight and you don't need to take a ton
(01:36):
of threes, as we won't.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
The I'll be to a men Thompson combination was working.
Vice versa was working as well. Have you noticed even
a better chemistry with those guys since they first step
to get on the same floor because it feels like
they have a real good sense of knowing where each
other's at.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, definitely. I think the time spent together over the
last years is really paid off. You know, was the
guy that handled a bunch, but now we have him
in the dunker spot, we have him in the corner
slashing and you know, playing in the pick and roll
at times. So Alpie is always looking for him. A
lot of teams back to paint, not just with the
big but bring the local man across and men as
great at slashing behind, defining his rhythm and obviously he's
(02:16):
a lot threat there. So for being the great pass
it is constantly looking for him.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Reed Shepherd didn't get to start yesterday, but he did
play twenty eight minutes, So what factors into your decisions
about the rotation starting guys, And I mean he's still
getting his minutes even though he wasn't starting in a
line in the starting lineup.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, A lot do the personnel with the other team.
We liked balance as well for our team. So you know,
I have some really good scores that we wanted you
joshing him in the guard Levine and and de Rosen,
and for the most part he did a great job
on them. In general, you know, twelve points and only
two for Levigne and so went with the more defensive
minded rotation. But also balance as well. You know, we
(02:57):
have a lot of our really good scores in the
starting lineup, and reads punch off the bench has been
good for us most of the season.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Rocket Tech coach imy Doka with us here on at
Sports Talk seven ninety. I have a more philosophical question
for you because I noticed last night Russell Wilson Russell Westbrook,
I should say, made the first couple of threes. Percentages
are up this year for him, but you guys were
still backing off of him. What goes into that decision
making as far as gaining enough sample size to maybe
(03:27):
change your stripes when it comes to any player, as
far as getting a hotthand or coming into the game
if percentages are up relative to their career.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, I mean it's game plan wise and what teams
like to do. They're a team that likes to get
the paint and he's really good at that obviously, so
you want to keep him away from the basket as
much as possible. And you know, it's funny at times
you encourage guys to shoot and hope they make their
first one or two, and they'll keep shooting a lot
of times, and the percentage usually catch up and so,
like I said, we did a really good job on Murray,
(03:59):
you know, two for eleven for five points. DeRozan only
twelve and Levine too, will live with some of the
others making and taking some tough shots. And he hit
his first two, but it went home for five after
that as well as a kid right now made two threes,
but it had twenty five points. But if he's scoring
twenty five and the others are held to single digits,
we'll take that trade off every day.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You know, You've had a lot of nice stretches, were
a couple off days in between. We've had a busy
stretch of games. Now we've got a busy stretch coming
up before the next weekend and a long road trip.
Have you had to alter in terms of practices, workouts,
guys you know, wanting to get their shots up and
still get some downtime away because the schedule is about
to pick up a little bit and here in the
next few weeks.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, we definitely have. We got a good three day
break after the Golden State game and so we took
a good amount of time off. No, we had a
back to back against Utah coming out of it, you know,
time changes coming back home for Thanksgiving and going back
out west and now you know five and seven days basically,
and so a lot less practice time. Now the back
(05:01):
to backs are and eventually catch up to you, and
so we're conserving as much energy and saving lates as
much as possible. So some of the teams we've just
seen Phoenix, so we you can limit some practice time
and more film work and walk through and get ready
for that. And the TLAs back to back.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
The back to back with Utah, you beat them up
pretty bit good on Sunday and they'll drop the game
on Monday. Is that a lesson for the next time
you got back to backs on the same team or
is it just a one off in your mind.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
No, you have to understand when you beat a team
by thirty, you know, on their home floor, and you
have to play them again, they're going to come out
with a different mindset and you try to guard against
that and prepare for that. And you know, our intensity
wasn't the same. Definitely in the second game, especially in
the first half. We got down twenty and then has
always fought our way back, got to three points late
in the game. And so if we bring that same
(05:48):
intensity early in the game, it's a different story. But
understanding the teams are going to take that hit and
be more aggressive, you have to meet that for us.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
As for us, you were talking with Ross about the
lineups and who starts and who's not. And I thought
Kevin was pretty good yesterday about talking about Josha Kogie.
And he's not going to have a lot of shots.
He's probably not more than the fourth or fifth option
and you're starting five. But his plus minus always seems
to be good. He's always very active. And I know
you've been asked about it a few times, but has
he been a low key kind of Wow, he even
(06:18):
brought more than maybe we even thought he would when
he finished signed with the team.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, so you look at more so the defenders are
the people he's guarding. You look at their numbers, and
like I mentioned, those guys that were held to five
and two and twelve points, you know they have a
twenty one point score and three eighteen point scores, and
so to hold those guys down, he's done his job
as far as that. He'll play off the other guys
and be a recipient if he If alp in kV
(06:44):
get double team to get on transition or so be it.
But overall, I think just the impact he's has has
been great, especially with the injuries. I would say that's
the reason he didn't expect it as much, with Dorian
being out and Jay Shawn starting the season slow. Him
getting that opportunity, he really looked good as soon as
the guy here is training camp and everything else and
so taking advantage opportunity and it's great to have another
(07:05):
defender out there to take some of the load offs.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Man, Steven Adams continues to be a plus for you.
Eleven points and eight rebounds off the bench. You also
had five of those on the offensive side. Can you
just break down for us, like, what is it about
him that makes him so good on that end? How
much of it is instructions from you guys, the coaches,
and just some kind of innate ability he has to
(07:29):
be so effective offensive rebounding.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, had nothing to do with us. He's been doing
this his whole career. We you know, double and triple
down on it and encourage him to do it more
as well as other guys. But when we got him
from Memphis, we watched a ton of tape and saw
the impact he had on that end of the floor in
that area specifically, But you know, it starts with strength.
You know, you got to be strong enough to hold
guys off Wedgem under the basket. But he has a
(07:54):
great timing in sense of where the ball is going
to come and anticipation and so combination of all very
high player that knows his role and knows how he
impacts the game. And you know, obviously he's brought that
toughness and and those second chance points to us since
he got here.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Last question he may do you think Dylan saves some
material for you tomorrow night and coming in town for
the first time since the trade, and have you saved
some of your material for him as well?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, I mean he hugged it up with everybody. He's
gonna talk and do what he does. He saw the
Laker game obviously the other day, but had a really
good game against us as well, And so I think
he's always gonna be excited to play. He carries that
edge and chip on his shoulder regardless, and there's no
ill will between us, but he always wants to show
up in next team, I'm sure, and so doing a
great job, especially with a booker out, you know, thirty
(08:41):
plus points against the Lakers. The other night, he twenty
nine against US, and he's really finding his way offensively
and brought that edge and toughness to Phoenix that they
needed
Twelve oh one on sports Talk SEMININTI. Let's spend ten
minutes with the head basketball coach of your Rockets who
disposed of the Sacramento Kings last night, Emadoka with US
Year on seven NINTI. Coach, it's Matt and Ross. I
gotta ask you, did you really call the team at
junior varsity squad at halftime last night?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I said, stop playing like one, looking like one, take
the ball to play with them, fourth and something like that.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
You're just the best team.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Man.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm gonna tell that right now, and I'm not trying
to blow smoke. I'm just saying you go in there
and they obviously listened to you. That is what did
you get the bluntness of your life? And I certainly
appreciate because I'm a very blunt person myself.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I just always liked honestly myself. You know, don't want
the coach or anybody you know, kind of blowing smoking.
So and you're direct with them and don't sugarcoat it.
They can tell if you're be a thing or lying anyway,
so might as we'll get them direct. And I think
guys respect that approach.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
You certainly did that only did they cut the turnovers down.
You put it together an amazing third quarter, and the
three point shot was not a huge part of the
team in the second half. Were you surprised by that
or is that kind of what Sacramento dictated because they
gave you so many opportunities in the paint.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
No, we just take what the gang gives us. I
think you know, we'll shoot them if they're available. But
a lot of times they were bringing their big up
in the pick and roll to take away some of
our walking threes. When we hit out bringing guys in
the pocket, they stayed locked up on some of our shooters,
which allowed us to get downhill and get to the paint.
And obviously, if we're gonna get all those paint points
seventy eight and you don't need to take a ton
(01:36):
of threes, as we won't.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
The I'll be to a men Thompson combination was working.
Vice versa was working as well. Have you noticed even
a better chemistry with those guys since they first step
to get on the same floor because it feels like
they have a real good sense of knowing where each
other's at.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, definitely. I think the time spent together over the
last years is really paid off. You know, was the
guy that handled a bunch, but now we have him
in the dunker spot, we have him in the corner
slashing and you know, playing in the pick and roll
at times. So Alpie is always looking for him. A
lot of teams back to paint, not just with the
big but bring the local man across and men as
great at slashing behind, defining his rhythm and obviously he's
(02:16):
a lot threat there. So for being the great pass
it is constantly looking for him.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Reed Shepherd didn't get to start yesterday, but he did
play twenty eight minutes, So what factors into your decisions
about the rotation starting guys, And I mean he's still
getting his minutes even though he wasn't starting in a
line in the starting lineup.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, A lot do the personnel with the other team.
We liked balance as well for our team. So you know,
I have some really good scores that we wanted you
joshing him in the guard Levine and and de Rosen,
and for the most part he did a great job
on them. In general, you know, twelve points and only
two for Levigne and so went with the more defensive
minded rotation. But also balance as well. You know, we
(02:57):
have a lot of our really good scores in the
starting lineup, and reads punch off the bench has been
good for us most of the season.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
Rocket Tech coach imy Doka with us here on at
Sports Talk seven ninety. I have a more philosophical question
for you because I noticed last night Russell Wilson Russell Westbrook,
I should say, made the first couple of threes. Percentages
are up this year for him, but you guys were
still backing off of him. What goes into that decision
making as far as gaining enough sample size to maybe
(03:27):
change your stripes when it comes to any player, as
far as getting a hotthand or coming into the game
if percentages are up relative to their career.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, I mean it's game plan wise and what teams
like to do. They're a team that likes to get
the paint and he's really good at that obviously, so
you want to keep him away from the basket as
much as possible. And you know, it's funny at times
you encourage guys to shoot and hope they make their
first one or two, and they'll keep shooting a lot
of times, and the percentage usually catch up and so,
like I said, we did a really good job on Murray,
(03:59):
you know, two for eleven for five points. DeRozan only
twelve and Levine too, will live with some of the
others making and taking some tough shots. And he hit
his first two, but it went home for five after
that as well as a kid right now made two threes,
but it had twenty five points. But if he's scoring
twenty five and the others are held to single digits,
we'll take that trade off every day.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
You know, You've had a lot of nice stretches, were
a couple off days in between. We've had a busy
stretch of games. Now we've got a busy stretch coming
up before the next weekend and a long road trip.
Have you had to alter in terms of practices, workouts,
guys you know, wanting to get their shots up and
still get some downtime away because the schedule is about
to pick up a little bit and here in the
next few weeks.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, we definitely have. We got a good three day
break after the Golden State game and so we took
a good amount of time off. No, we had a
back to back against Utah coming out of it, you know,
time changes coming back home for Thanksgiving and going back
out west and now you know five and seven days basically,
and so a lot less practice time. Now the back
(05:01):
to backs are and eventually catch up to you, and
so we're conserving as much energy and saving lates as
much as possible. So some of the teams we've just
seen Phoenix, so we you can limit some practice time
and more film work and walk through and get ready
for that. And the TLAs back to back.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
The back to back with Utah, you beat them up
pretty bit good on Sunday and they'll drop the game
on Monday. Is that a lesson for the next time
you got back to backs on the same team or
is it just a one off in your mind.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
No, you have to understand when you beat a team
by thirty, you know, on their home floor, and you
have to play them again, they're going to come out
with a different mindset and you try to guard against
that and prepare for that. And you know, our intensity
wasn't the same. Definitely in the second game, especially in
the first half. We got down twenty and then has
always fought our way back, got to three points late
in the game. And so if we bring that same
(05:48):
intensity early in the game, it's a different story. But
understanding the teams are going to take that hit and
be more aggressive, you have to meet that for us.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
As for us, you were talking with Ross about the
lineups and who starts and who's not. And I thought
Kevin was pretty good yesterday about talking about Josha Kogie.
And he's not going to have a lot of shots.
He's probably not more than the fourth or fifth option
and you're starting five. But his plus minus always seems
to be good. He's always very active. And I know
you've been asked about it a few times, but has
he been a low key kind of Wow, he even
(06:18):
brought more than maybe we even thought he would when
he finished signed with the team.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Yeah, so you look at more so the defenders are
the people he's guarding. You look at their numbers, and
like I mentioned, those guys that were held to five
and two and twelve points, you know they have a
twenty one point score and three eighteen point scores, and
so to hold those guys down, he's done his job
as far as that. He'll play off the other guys
and be a recipient if he If alp in kV
(06:44):
get double team to get on transition or so be it.
But overall, I think just the impact he's has has
been great, especially with the injuries. I would say that's
the reason he didn't expect it as much, with Dorian
being out and Jay Shawn starting the season slow. Him
getting that opportunity, he really looked good as soon as
the guy here is training camp and everything else and
so taking advantage opportunity and it's great to have another
(07:05):
defender out there to take some of the load offs.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Man, Steven Adams continues to be a plus for you.
Eleven points and eight rebounds off the bench. You also
had five of those on the offensive side. Can you
just break down for us, like, what is it about
him that makes him so good on that end? How
much of it is instructions from you guys, the coaches,
and just some kind of innate ability he has to
(07:29):
be so effective offensive rebounding.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Yeah, had nothing to do with us. He's been doing
this his whole career. We you know, double and triple
down on it and encourage him to do it more
as well as other guys. But when we got him
from Memphis, we watched a ton of tape and saw
the impact he had on that end of the floor in
that area specifically, But you know, it starts with strength.
You know, you got to be strong enough to hold
guys off Wedgem under the basket. But he has a
(07:54):
great timing in sense of where the ball is going
to come and anticipation and so combination of all very
high player that knows his role and knows how he
impacts the game. And you know, obviously he's brought that
toughness and and those second chance points to us since
he got here.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Last question he may do you think Dylan saves some
material for you tomorrow night and coming in town for
the first time since the trade, and have you saved
some of your material for him as well?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, I mean he hugged it up with everybody. He's
gonna talk and do what he does. He saw the
Laker game obviously the other day, but had a really
good game against us as well, And so I think
he's always gonna be excited to play. He carries that
edge and chip on his shoulder regardless, and there's no
ill will between us, but he always wants to show
up in next team, I'm sure, and so doing a
great job, especially with a booker out, you know, thirty
(08:41):
plus points against the Lakers. The other night, he twenty
nine against US, and he's really finding his way offensively
and brought that edge and toughness to Phoenix that they
needed
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.