The first few months of the 2024-25 season had the Houston Rockets believing that they were a serious threat to mount a deep playoff run in the loaded Western Conference. However, they have had their fair share of struggles since the start of the new year, and at present, they are mired in a worrying slump that has their place in the West standings standing on some shaky ground. On Tuesday night, the Rockets lost their third game in a row, with the Indiana Pacers dealing them their 25th loss in 62 games with a 115-102 win.
While it is far from panic time for the Rockets, especially when they were without Fred VanVleet, who aggravated a previous injury of his, head coach Ime Udoka is not pleased with the effort levels he’s been seeing from his team. This, according to Udoka, is simply inexcusable, and he felt the need to criticize his players in his postgame presser.
“It’s hard to win when you give up 67 in the first half, play uninspired, lack of physicality, throwing the ball all over the gym and don’t look like we care at times,” Udoka said, per ClutchFans on X (formerly Twitter). “That one hurts because you do all that work to get back into it, [and then you go] 13-26 from the free-throw line and miss about five point-blank layups. I care about the fight, the effort, the competitiveness from the start to avoid getting into a hole.”
Ime Udoka expected more from the Rockets in Indiana tonight given the players that rested yesterday.
“It’s hard to win when you give up 67 in the first half, play uninspired, lack of physicality, throwing the ball all over the gym and don’t look like we care at times.” pic.twitter.com/ixv6QjcVpN
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) March 5, 2025
This Rockets team isn’t the most polished and smooth on the offensive end, so they need to make up for it with nailing the little things — effort, hustle, and outplaying the other team. Thus, there’s no surprise that Udoka is frustrated with the way the Rockets simply ran out of gas against the Pacers.
Rockets’ recipe for success fails them vs. the Pacers
All throughout the season, the Rockets have been successful due to their nightly dominance on the glass. The same was the case on Tuesday night; they devoured the Pacers on the boards, hauling in 24 offensive rebounds en route to hauling in 58 total boards on the night, and yet they lost by double digits.
The Rockets’ offense was simply stuck in the mud all night long; they shot 40.8 percent from the field and missed a few easy looks, and to make matters worse, they missed 13 free throws — their exact losing deficit. At the very least, the Rockets’ issues are correctable, and they must deal with it in the final month or so before the playoffs begin.
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