{"id":186505,"date":"2025-12-16T12:43:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/186505\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:43:07","slug":"rockets-ime-udoka-lashes-out-at-officials-after-ot-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/186505\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockets’ Ime Udoka lashes out at officials after OT loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER — Houston Rockets<\/a> coach Ime Udoka was critical of the officiating in his team’s 128-125 overtime loss<\/a> to the Denver Nuggets<\/a> on Monday night, saying it was “the most poorly officiated game I’ve seen in a long time.”<\/p>\n

It was a tightly called game, with both teams combining for 59 free throw attempts and Denver’s two centers — Nikola Jokic<\/a> and Jonas Valanciunas<\/a> — fouling out.<\/p>\n

The most crucial call, however, happened with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation and Denver down 117-116. Before the Nuggets could inbound the ball for the final possession, Amen Thompson<\/a> was called for a foul away from the play after he appeared to trip Tim Hardaway Jr<\/a>. Houston challenged the call, but it was upheld and Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray<\/a> made the free throw to tie the score.<\/p>\n

“Just in general, I think, most poorly officiated game I’ve seen in a long time,” Udoka said after the game. “[Officials Natalie Sago and Jamahl Ralls] have no business being out there, and [crew chief Zach Zarba] was acting starstruck. You’re seeing all kind of inconsistent calls, and I’m sure we should’ve gotten a few more techs.”<\/p>\n

It was a wild couple of minutes leading up to the call, with four ties and four lead changes in the final 1:40 of regulation. In overtime, the Nuggets took a 124-117 lead after a Spencer Jones<\/a> 3 with 2:59 remaining, but the Rockets clawed back, getting within three with the ball and 13 seconds remaining. Alperen Sengun<\/a> missed a contested 24-foot 3 with 4.9 seconds remaining, allowing Denver to hold on for the victory.<\/p>\n

“I mean, it’s a physical game,” Murray said after the game of the officiating, according to the Denver Post. “It’s tough for the refs to call both sides, like, dead even. I think they missed some calls on our end, and they missed some calls on their end, so I don’t really think that was an issue tonight.”<\/p>\n

Jokic finished with 39 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists for his NBA-leading 12th triple-double, and Murray added 35 points while going 14-of-15 at the free throw line.<\/p>\n

Sengun paced the Rockets with 33 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his first triple-double of the season. Kevin Durant<\/a> added 25 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks for Houston, which lost its third consecutive road game.<\/p>\n

A Nuggets team that was already down two starters in Aaron Gordon<\/a> (hamstring) and Christian Braun<\/a> (ankle) played much of the game without starting guard Peyton Watson<\/a>, who left six minutes into the first quarter after suffering a right trunk contusion.<\/p>\n

The victory gave the Nuggets sole possession of second place in the Western Conference at 19-6. They are 4\u00bd games back from the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> for the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER — Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka was critical of the officiating in his team’s 128-125 overtime loss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-186505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}