Barring a miracle (five more wins than Golden State in the last six games…), the Rockets will not compete in the play-in. Despite their superb series of 11 consecutive victories, Ime Udoka's players started from too far to catch up with the Warriors who are playing their best basketball of the season, at the best time. Just this night, the Rockets hosted the Warriors in what looked like the “last chance game”.
At the end, a scathing victory for Golden State (133-110) and the Houston coach pointed out the inexperience or lack of control of some of his players. “The moment was too important for many players” he regrets. “They looked like rabbits in the headlights of a car. We were either “soft” or scared. Whatever the explanation, it was too bad. We did not live up to the event.”
The Rockets' stupid mistakes
Like Tari Eason with his t-shirt, the Rockets were a little too confident, even arrogant, but also too inexperienced. Certainly, Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jeff Green have a lot of experience, but they are surrounded by kids who have spent two or three years losing. And in a match at stake, they lost their means.
“You have to know how to raise your level of play when the quality of play is high, against very intelligent teams” continues Ime Udoka, her face very closed. “Lack of communication is one thing, but when you see so many players getting open to the basket and two guys on the ball, it’s a lack of communication or a lack of knowledge about who’s defending who…”
In general, Ime Udoka criticizes “lack of attention”And ” against teams like that, you pay for it”. To a journalist who asked him if his team would gain anything from these high-stakes matches, he concluded: “We are going to review all of that, and understand how we were not up to the task. Face to face, there were two teams playing a high-stakes match, and one of the two was more focused and more aware of the situation. »
