The Houston Rockets made their intentions clear for the 2023-24 NBA season with the moves they made in the preceding offseason. They wanted to start playing more competitive basketball, which started with hiring Ime Udoka as head coach.
With Udoka leading the way on the sidelines, the team made some moves to bring in established veterans to help push their rebuild forward. The results have been solid this season, as the Rockets were in the mix for a spot in the NBA Play-In Tournament. That was until they ran into the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night.
The Warriors were the team that the Rockets were attempting to catch for the final spot in the Play-In Tournament. An 11-game winning streak put them within striking distance, but their performance on Thursday showed that they still have a little bit of work to do.
Essentially with their season on the line, Houston got demolished on their homecourt, losing 133-110. The Warriors were motivated by some of the taunting and barbs being used by Houston, jumping them early and never looking back.
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While this season has been a success in some regard for Udoka and the Rockets, he was not pleased with how things turned out against the Warriors. After the game, he called his team out for how they played, calling them soft.
“The moment was too big for a lot of players out there. Looked like deer in headlights. Looked either soft or scared. Didn’t rise up to the moment, like I thought we would,” Udoka said via Will Kunkel of Fox 26 Houston on X.
Midway through the first quarter, Houston was already down by 14 and they never truly got back into the game. That slow start and early hole was too big for them to climb out of, as they learned the hard way what playoff-intensity games are like in the NBA.
The Warriors, with loads of championship experience to fall back on, looked calm, cool and collected as they ran away with the victory. It is a good learning experience for a young Rockets squad made up of a majority of players who have never sniffed the NBA postseason and will help them be better in the future.
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