Ime Udoka after Rockets fall to LeBron, Lakers on 3/31/2025

Our biggest flaw is shot creation, and the biggest concern about that is we failed to develop a single play or go to move for any of our players when in clutch situations.

Late in the game Jalen passed the ball to the veteran side, the failed fadeaway from Dillon. And then Sengun failed to get a shot.

Offense structure is not for then game is easy, is exactly for these kind of moments.

 

When Dillon starts chucking you know youre in trouble.

 

On a night when the shots weren't failing....

Where was Holiday? He has been shooting 44% from 3 over the last 10 games.

 

Jeff Van Gundy at the podium trashing the players even in Wins.

 

Dusty Baker, Martin Maldonado similar to Ime Udoka and Fred VanVleet.

 

Free VanVleet bricking 3s and a huge liability on defense.

Alperen Sengun and Steven Adams cant guard on the 3 point line Dorian Finney Smith 18 pts.

 

Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams are unplayable.

Luka Doncic and Dorian Finney Smith destroyed Fred VanVleet and Steven Adams.

 

Ime needs to learn how to make adjustments.

I) FVV --1st qtr LA was isolating FVV on defense, he should have made the adjustment to lessen Fred's minutes. Fred was guarding LBJ on several plays.....can not happen

2) The zone defense - Lakers were obviously ready for it and by having two playmaker and good shooters on the floor made it easy.

3) Ime should have put the ball in Jalen's hands more. Jalen was playing off ball and he was timid! By putting the ball in his hands it'll makes him more aggressive.

4) Jabari was hot!! Why keep playing Adams at the 5? Plus he spread the court for your wings to drive.

5) Holding Jalen out most of the 4th qtr

 

Ime has tunnel vision, and the "two-bigs" rotation, if not working, needs adjustments. Jabari Smith should have been out there more.

 

Jabari was playing great and he was benched for the first 10 minutes of the third quarter. FVV got his 40 minutes when it was obvious to everyone watching the game that he was the worse player on both sides of the court all night. It is what it is. If FVV is hot we have a chance, when he’s not it’s up to Jalen. Ime only knows dribble, dribble, dribble, shoot offense.

 

- I hated we played the 2-3 Zone against the Lakers, especially Gabe and Dorian got open looks...my thoughts were if we continued to play Zone and our 3s weren't going in, could've been a great opportunity to plug in Reed while FVV was struggling.

 

It is very hard to consistently win when you lack a high level go shot creator and when you are playing against a team that has two of the best shot creators ever.

 

100% with you there. It was a relatively good game for us. We need to get Jalen going in the clutch, or have at least 1 play leveraging both Jalen and Alpi strengths

 

Jalen Green has the ability to be a 3 level scorer. And that is his role on this team. He has to become that A1 scorer over time or else will have to be moved for someone else that is an A1 scorer. It is as simple as that.

Jalen has got to be able to get to the midrange down the stretch to hit shots. Jalen has got to be able to drive, decel, accept contact and get to the FT line. Physicality has to be part of his game. Especially in playoff situations when things slow down and the intensity ratchets up.

 

It bothers me that the Gleague Ignite cloned high flying, athletic scoring machines that can only go downhill and have no true character of their own and cannot shoot well to save their lives.

Given that Green broke out of that mold and developed a little into the Udoka game (not a genius on O), it is still by far not enough.

Even if he was reading in his spare time, or doing something truly special would make me more invested.

 

and the team with the most RefAid ever

 

This is a concern, for sure. But last night wasn't really a good example of that, imo, in that last 3 minutes.

Also keep in mind the Lakers only made two field goals in the last 7 minutes. Thought we executed better in last 3 minutes.

 

I agree - he basically has to be one of the top 10 guys in the world at creating shots for himself and others, and while he has improved in areas over the last couple years - he isn't a top 10 or 15 guy in the league at that right now. At this point he is more of a #2 type scoring option for a really good team.

When you look at the standings and the teams that can go deep ---

1.Thunder - SGA #1
2. Cavs - Mitchell #15
3. Celtics - Tatum #5
4. Rockets - Green #26
5. Knicks - Brunson #7
6. Nuggets - Jokic #3
7. Lakers - Doncic #4

Five of the 7 teams have scorers that are in the top 7 in the league in scoring.

The other two are the Rockets and the Cavs.

The Cavs best scorer is Donovan Mitchell who is scoring around 24 points a game this season - but in the past he has scored up to almost 28.5 points a game, and even then there will be questions about how deep the Cavs go in the playoffs.

The Rockets best scorer is 26th in the league in scoring at 21.5 points a game.


To be clear - I am not blaming Jalen Green, the effort is there and he is a good NBA player at this point, he just isn't good enough at this point to do what he is being asked to do, and that is why the Rockets in a series likely would lose to the Lakers, Nuggets, etc.

 

I'm not sure this is fair. We seem to have established a couple of absolute go-to-moves in the clutch.
1. Pass to Alpy, who either turns it over or flops looking for a foul (or both)
2. Green drives and loses control of the ball.
The backup moves appear to be a wild Brooks heave, or a FVV long bomb brick.


Having made the (poor?) joke, in seriousness the only option is exposure to improve. Nobody makes all of their clutch baskets, and no team executes perfectly every game. The mantra of the young guys need to learn is still true.
We have the highest % of points scored by guys 23 and under in the NBA (by far). It is therefore natural to expect some frustration at the end as those same young guys learn how to close games.


We probably had the chances vs LAL, and got the right shots, but either missed, or they made a nice defensive play. Do we still need a 1A go-to scorer? Probably?