Ime Udoka is about as authentic as it gets. He doesn’t hold back.
The fine was well worth the message for Rockets Ime Udoka
Ime Udoka got a fine, but spoke his mind.
Just ask Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, who Udoka told to stop bitching about officiating. Sure, it got him ejected, but the message was beyond worth the punishment.
Especially when considering the effect that it had on his Houston Rockets players. It let them know that their coach was going to ride for them, no matter what. Publicly.
The Rockets players were thinking the same thing as Udoka. They realized the whistle was titled in the Los Angeles Lakers’ favor, but they’ve been taught not to let officiating affect them.
(Not to mention a lot of them at that time were still on rookie deals and likely didn’t want to give money back to the league).
Fast forward two years. Well, fast forward to December 15th, 2025, in particular.
The Rockets were in a slug fest with the Denver Nuggets and had traded blows with them for several hours.
Houston led 117-116 with just two seconds left.
Then it happened.
The referees struck once again, although this time determining the outcome. Well, let’s just say influencing it.
A phantom foul was called on Amen Thompson towards Tim Hardaway Jr. The camera angle would determine whether many thought it was a foul (which means it wasn’t a foul).
Denver hit a free throw and won the game in overtime.
Afterwards, Udoka went no-holds-barred, unloading on the officiating. The Cliff Notes version of Udoka’s rant was that the game was “the most poorly officiated game he had seen in a long time”, two of the referees had no business being out there, and the crew chief was “acting star struck”.
The next day, the NBA released their last two minute report, noting that it was indeed an incorrect call on Thompson, in addition to two other calls in the waning moments of the game, that all went against the Rockets.
The NBA also dropped the hammer relatively quickly on Udoka, fining the Rockets coach $25,000.
As a side note, if they were in agreement with Udoka regarding the poor officiating, why fine him?
(And not to pocket watch, but what’s $25,000 for someone making $11 million annually?)
But the message was worth the punishment for Udoka. Again, he said exactly what the players (and even fans) were thinking.
And once again, the teams knows he’s going to ride for them and have their back, publicly, even if it leads to punishment (or a semblance of it) for Udoka. And that’s worth much more than the fine.
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