Rockets HC Ime Udoka ejected after verbal altercation with LeBron James in loss to Lakers
Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was ejected from the team's 97-107 road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena after picking up his second technical foul of the night due to a verbal altercation with LeBron James.
Udoka, 46, left the contest with 8:35 remaining in the fourth quarter. James also received a technical for the feud with the Rockets coach, although it remains unclear what started the incident.
LeBron James channels Stephen Curry with iconic warm-up shot imitation
During his postfight press conference, Udoka remained coy about what the "conversation" with "the player" was about, simply saying the referees did "not like what they heard."
Some lip readers on social media claim Udoka told James to mind his business when the Lakers star walked up to the Rockets bench after an on-court scuffle.
James is thought to have told Udoka not to tell him what to do and the Rockets coach said "what are you going to do about it" before calling the player a "soft a-- boy," leading to the ejection.
Lakers defeat a struggling Rockets team
Anthony Davis scored 27 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to help keep the Rockets winless away from home, while Austin Reaves contributed with 18 points off the bench and James added 16 points and seven assists.
Houston dropped its third consecutive game overall and are now 0-8 on the road. Fred VanVleet and Alperen Sengun combined for 43 points, though the latter needed 25 shots to score 21 points.
The entire match was plagued with chippiness from both sides, and a few lead changes in the second half, but the Lakers were able to pull through in the end.
Rockets host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday and the Lakers stay home to play the Phoenix Suns one day prior in the knockout stage of the NBA In-Season Tournament.
Post a Comment