Even without Kevin Durant in the lineup, the Houston Rockets were on the verge of cutting the Los Angeles Lakers‘ series lead in half with a Game 3 win. Instead, the Rockets let a late 101-95 lead slip away in a 112-108 overtime loss, and coach Ime Udoka didn’t mince words with his team now facing a 3-0 deficit.
With 40.6 seconds remaining, Alperen Sengun took a LeBron James turnover and slammed it home to give Houston a six-point lead. Less than 30 seconds later, James knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime in a stunning turn of events.
“Horrendous mistakes,” Udoka said. “I don’t know if you wanna say youth or scared of the moment or whatever the case.”
Turnovers from 22-year-old Jabari Smith Jr. and 21-year-old Reed Sheppard opened the door for the Lakers’ comeback, and Udoka certainly didn’t let his young players off the hook — especially after they pushed the Golden State Warriors to seven games in the first round last year.
“Grow up,” Udoka said when asked about his message to the team. “You’re not that young anymore. You’ve been to the playoffs once, and we watched every situation just now.”
Houston’s meltdown wasn’t all on the young players, as 30-year-old Jae’Sean Tate committed what Udoka described as a “terrible” foul that sent Marcus Smart to the line for three shots.
Udoka also accuses his team of freestyling on its final possession of regulation, which resulted in a miss by Sengun.
“The final play — for the last shot — we don’t run what was drawn up,” Udoka said.
LeBron James promised the Lakers everything, then gave them every last ounce
Sam Quinn
Asked about his team’s inability to close out games, Udoka said it’s been a pattern that the Rockets keep repeating.
“It’s obviously a weakness of ours to close out and finish,” Udoka added. “The amount of mistakes and type of mistakes are egregious. You can’t have those. … I’m looking at five years, four years or three years in the league and growing from there and not learning from previous experiences. That was the case there.”
Now, Houston is facing elimination in Game 4, and it still may be without Durant. Udoka said the Rockets star has “made some progress” with his sprained left ankle, but Durant’s status for Game 4 is still “up in the air.”
