CHICAGO — Rockets coach Ime Udoka said his team showed up late to Monday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls, during which Houston fell behind by 20 points after the first quarter.
Then Udoka left a little early, after receiving two technical fouls and being ejected with 9.1 seconds left in the 132-124 loss to the Bulls.
The defeat dropped the Rockets from fourth place in the Western Conference to sixth, a half-game behind the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
Afterward, Udoka criticized several calls made by officials — including his two technical fouls and a flagrant foul 1 against Rockets guard Amen Thompson — calling them “soft.”
“Flagrant’s soft as hell, it’s nothing. And then the techs were soft, too,” Udoka said in his postgame news conference.
He continued, saying he didn’t want to “complain about a soft crew, so it is what it is.”
Udoka’s first technical foul came when he argued the flagrant foul call against Thompson, which came after the referee crew reviewed a first-quarter collision on the offensive end. The second came in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, when Udoka argued an offensive foul call against Kevin Durant, who was whistled while trying to set a screen.
Chicago made all four free throws following the violations.
Udoka’s frustration began with his own team, which gave up 41 first-quarter points against the NBA’s 25th-ranked offense.
“We didn’t respect the game or the opponent, and the only way they score 41 is if we’re playing the way we did on both sides,” he said.
Thanks to 40 points on 15-for-23 shooting from Durant and 33 points on 16-for-19 shooting from Alperen Sengun, the Rockets came back to take the lead midway through the fourth quarter. But Bulls starters Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis and Jalen Smith all made 3-pointers in the final 90 seconds to clinch the victory for Chicago.
Houston’s loss was its 12th this season to a team below .500, tied for the most by any team with a winning record, according to ESPN Research.
“It’s the NBA, and if you come out like that, you’re going to be inconsistent, you’re going to have bad losses,” Udoka said. “And this is another one of them.”
