NBA Fines Ime Udoka For Sideline Tantrum In Rockets-Bucks Matchup

Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka continues to pile up his enemies list with NBA officials, adding yet another during Sunday’s battle with the Milwaukee Bucks.

In the fourth quarter, while the Rockets trailed the Bucks by nine points with less than a minute left to play, Houston’s Dillon Brooks felt he was fouled by Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton. No official blew their whistle, allowing the play to continue and the seconds to wind down, which prompted a fired-up reaction from both Brooks and Udoka — before eventually were ejected.

When the dust settled, the NBA handed out a couple of hefty fines to Brooks ($35,000) and Udoka ($25,000) on Tuesday, per a league announcement. The two were both fined due to inappropriate language directed at the officials in Houston’s 128-119 loss to Milwaukee.

As expected, Udoka had plenty to say afterward.

“It was a blatant missed push out of bounds on that call,” Udoka told reporters postgame. “Same refs missing the same calls throughout the game, calling it very quickly or tight on the other plays. So, yeah, it was that specific play but there was a ton of missed calls throughout.”

This isn’t the first instance in which Udoka’s let the non-family-friendly language fly from the sidelines either.

During a matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this month, Udoka challenged star LeBron James mid-game, again by tossing expletives. Udoka was also ejected for that and the night also resulted in a Rockets loss.

Houston sits at a modest No. 9-seeded spot in the Western Conference at 13-11 through 24 games.