WASHINGTON — Rockets head coach Ime Udoka looked disgusted as his team headed to the locker room for Tuesday’s halftime. Yes, Houston (33-35) held a narrow lead on the road versus the short-handed Wizards (11-58), but that wasn’t why he was so frustrated.
He watched as his team allowed the lowly Wizards to shoot 45.5% (10-for-22) from 3-point range, which kept Washington in the game.
Udoka has become known for his tough, no-nonsense approach with players this season, and that didn’t change when he got them into the locker room on Tuesday night. He held them longer than usual, ensuring his message resonated throughout the room.
Even so, the message didn’t seem to hit home until the Wizards took their first lead of the game, courtesy of a 27-foot shot from Patrick Baldwin Jr. (a 3-pointer). As the Rockets called timeout, Udoka received a technical foul for arguing with referee Tom Washington.
“My message was, we are playing with the game, messing around with the game,” Udoka said when asked about his halftime speech. “We were scoring at a high enough clip, but we have to guard. We didn’t come out great; I got a technical, and they went up on us.”
Still upset by that previous referee interaction, Udoka addressed his team again during the timeout and reminded them that Washington wasn’t going to roll over because they were short-handed.
That message seemed to finally turn the light on for the young Rockets, as they used the last 9:25 of the third quarter to regain their dominance over the Wizards. In all, Houston outscored Washington, 39-16, to take a commanding 101-82 lead into the final period.
“My message was, we are playing with the game, messing around with the game,” Udoka responded when asked about his halftime speech. Houston outscored Washington 41-25 in the third quarter after having a slim three point lead at the half. #Rockets #Sarge @TheRocketsWire pic.twitter.com/inoDtcuQPr
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) March 20, 2024
“We didn’t come out great, but we flipped it from there,” Udoka said. “Maybe my technical help them get that motivation going. We finally turned it around after a slow start coming out.”
With the game tied and 6:36 left in the third quarter, Wizards coach Brian Keefe watched as Houston increased its intensity by getting stops on defense and turning the misses and turnovers into points.
“We made a lot of coverage mistakes, but it was really the last six minutes of the third quarter,” Keefe said when asked how the game got out of hand. “That game was back and forth until that point.”
After regaining their composure, the trio of Jalen Green (42 points, 10 rebounds), Amen Thompson (25 points, 10 rebounds), and Jabari Smith Jr. (18 points, 14 rebounds) contributed double-doubles to help the Rockets win their sixth consecutive game. Thompson’s scoring total set a new career high, while Green tied his personal best.
“He told us to wake up,” Jabari Smith Jr. told Rockets Wire about Udoka’s halftime message. It was a mutual thing because everyone knew it. We had to come with a sense of urgency, and we did that. It is how you have to approach it, and that is how we went about it.”
