Seven matches, seven defeats. This is the record of the Rockets on the road, and last night, Jalen Green’s teammates absolutely delivered one of their worst matches, notably due to a catastrophic start! Of course, it was in Denver where the Nuggets are undefeated this season (9v-0l), especially in back-to-back, but Ime Udoka doesn’t want to hear about that!
“Clearly, it has nothing to do with back-to-back” assures the Houston coach. “It’s obvious that we had our worst first quarter of the season. This has nothing to do with back-to-back. When you are deprived of a starter (Fred VanVleet) and an important replacement (Jae’Sean Tate), you have to be more focused! »
No aggression, no rotation, passivity…
Unable to curb the creativity of Nikola Jokic, the Rockets conceded 41 points in the first quarter, and 76 at the break! These are the two worst totals of the season. Proof that the defense was catastrophic, the Nuggets only lost four balls!
“We made a few stops in the third and fourth games. But we woke up quite late. If we had started better, the story would have been different” assures Jalen Green. But his coach does not lose his temper, and he lists the bankruptcies of his players.
“Their guys were largely unmarked, and we didn’t defend on our players, and missed rotations on the strong and weak sides” Udoka continues. “Jokic was able to deflect offensive rebounds for himself… We saw three players looking at him while Alperen was in a one-on-one situation. For me, this is an essential point. »
“Jokic did what he wanted”
Angry, Ime Udoka took out his starters five minutes from time. He had seen enough, and regrets, for example, the lack of defense on Michael Porter Jr., author of 30 points, his best mark of the season.
“No aggression. We tried to make entry errors. We didn’t follow Porter Jr.” still lists the Rockets coach. “It was obvious that he was going to continue… Jokic did what he wanted. A little bit of everyone… It has nothing to do with the match the day before. From the beginning, the guys didn’t pay attention to details. It’s not because a player is missing that we have to fall like that! »
