thelesterlee
This is the most competitive Western Conference race of my NBA-watching life. The best team right now is the Minnesota Timberwolves and if they went on a 10-game losing streak would you be surprised at all? The 13-10 Houston Rockets currently sit at the 11th seed ahead of the Phoenix Suns. Everyone in that building should fully believe they’re capable of leaping ahead of the injury-prone Clippers or horny Zion-centric Pelicans or the Kings who might accidentally add Zach LaVine to an already ass defense.
Ime Udoka did something on Sunday night that makes Houston a title contender.
Dillon Brooks and HC Ime Udoka were ejected after arguing a no-call 😮 pic.twitter.com/wGJuvQS8AT
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 18, 2023
Dillon Brooks is a dickhead who probably wakes up in the morning, reaches over to the letter on his nightstand and re-reads the Hall of Fame speech he’s prepared for himself for what he believes is inevitable—but Ime Udoka knows, if he wants to win games, he needs Brooks’s 14 points a game, 39% shooting from 3 and aggressive on-ball defense against the opposing team’s best perimeter scorer.
Udoka seems like the type of dad who will beat your ass if you embarrass him in front of company.
Remember when he was the Celtics coach and he was screaming at those boys like they stole a ham from his butcher shop? Marcus Smart was moving like he just walked off an episode of Scared Straight.
Ime wins basketball games and he cheats on his spouse. Nothing will stop him from his God-given missions. He was ejected from a game against the Lakers a couple weeks back because he was threatening to fight LeBron. Ime Udoka is such a sicko that he will fight the best basketball player ever if it meant his team got an edge.
So when there are 40 seconds left in a game you’re going to lose but Dillon Brooks makes a hustle play to save a ball in bounds and doesn’t get the obvious call—you have no choice but to get kicked out of the game with him because you need Brooks’s loyalty.
Dillon Brooks only has value for the Rockets if he is 1000% emotionally invested. Anything less than complete and total devotion to the jersey on his back and he turns into WWF superstar running into the ring for the Royal Rumble trying to throw NBA players over the top rope.
Give Ime Udoka The Coach of the Year
People were laughing at the Houston Rockets for signing Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks this offseason.
VanVleet has taken the offensive playmaking pressure off of 21-year-old Jalen Green who can develop that skill naturally at his own pace. Plus, FVV and Alperen Sengun have an interesting little 2-man game. They’re like a screenshot of a screenshot of a screenshot of Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.
While Dillon Brooks is a crucial part of the Rockets being 2nd in defensive rating.
Fast forward to mid-December and the Rockets have a better record than the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors. Prior to losing to the Bucks on Sunday, they had won 5 straight including wins over Denver and Oklahoma City.
Maybe this doesn’t feel like a big enough deal to anyone but me so I’ll say it this way: There are 82 games in an NBA season. Last year, Houston lost 60 of those fucking 82 games.
They’re only 5 games out of first place today.
Ime Udoka went to Houston to win championships and break all of James Harden’s strip club records and he might achieve both by the summer.
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