The Rockets hosted the Hornets tonight and lost 99-109 in what was only Charlotte’s eighth win in all time at Houston’s Toyota Center. This was the Rockets’ second loss in as many nights as they lost yesterday to the Celtics as well.
Ime Udoka spoke to the media at the press conference after the loss and called out his players for showing no effort on the defensive end of the floor and showing poor mentality on the court.
“You see what happened yesterday, it was a repeat of that. Teams are looking like they’re coming in and playing harder; they’re looking at the mentality of if we’re playing harder than them, we’ll beat them.”
“No fight, no aggression, just blank stares. In the past, if we didn’t win, we at least got into it, do something about it. But right now, its same mistakes over and over and over. Things we talk about at halftime get worse in the third quarter; it doesn’t look like there’s any resistance,” said Udoka in his initial remarks about the Rockets’ loss before urging players to step up and provide more energy.
While Kevin Durant still scored 31 points and Jabari Smith Jr. contributed with 17 points, the Rockets’ offense particularly came to a standstill tonight due to struggles from Alperen Sengun and Reed Sheppard in particular. Udoka felt otherwise.
“Decent shots. Shots he’s made since I’ve been here. Good looks, that’s not the problem. I think players allow offense to dictate their game in general,” explained Udoka.
“You give some away on defense when you’re not as engaged because you’re not scoring. And so it’s not just an Alperen thing. I think a lot of guys were going through shooting problems, and you let it affect your all-around game.”
Kevin Durant was pissed at Alperen Sengun for not playing defense
“PLAY SOME DEFENSE.”pic.twitter.com/u9RwUwRiAb
— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) February 6, 2026
“The shots he’s getting are decent. I think he’s going to see some doubles as always, but he’s getting really good looks deep in the paint and, you know, he’s been up and down as far as that, but I want the aggression to be there.”
“What you saw in Indiana, we need to see that, and regardless of the result, and so he’ll make his way out of it, but like I said, there are other ways to impact the game than scoring, and I don’t want him to equate a great game with just scoring only.”
Sengun finished the game with seven points, nine rebounds, five assists, and one block while shooting 3-11 from the field (27.3 FG%). For a player who is a nightly 20-point double-double threat, this was a disappointing performance from the Turkish former All-Star.
Meanwhile, Reed Sheppard, their young point guard, struggling to fill the shoes of Fred VanVleet, had only seven points, two rebounds, two steals, and one block in the game while shooting 2-10 from the field (20.0 FG%) and 1-6 from the three-point line (16.7 3P%).
“I don’t know. I mean, he’s definitely missing. I think he’s rushing a little bit. You can see that. Not sure about the trajectory of it, but you know, [He’s a] great shooter that’ll shoot himself out, but it’s tough when a lot of guys are slumping as far as that.”
“You know, we had guys that have been in it and shot their way out and now it’s him and Alpi not being at their best offensively, but like I said, you still have to do it all around, make plays for others, not just worry about shooting being the only way you impact the game and he can still make plays and then you have to defend as well,” said Udoka on Sheppard’s recent slump.
The Rockets had 18 turnovers tonight, which converted to 27 points for the Hornets. Udoka blamed that on the recklessness of the Rockets and not something special that the Hornets had to do to make it happen.
“I mean, I wouldn’t say they did anything different or special at all. You know, you drive into the crowd, and you see three or four guys around you. Don’t force it; find guys on the perimeter. When we’ve done that, and we did that over our last five or six games, we had several clips of us touching the paint, kicking the ball out, ball moving, getting the wide open shots.”
“But have to have that vision to see it, and be strong with the ball. So I would say the majority were driving into the crowd, just not being strong with the ball,”
“And so nothing they did. They barely blitzed, barely went after guys, and were pretty much careless at halftime. We gave up 17 points on 10 turnovers, came out in the third quarter, and gave up five more for 10 more points,” said Udoka while calling out his team for not taking care of the ball.
Udoka also took the blame on himself as well for not pushing his team hard enough tonight. The Rockets have now fallen to 31-19 for the season following this loss at the Toyota Center. They are now headed to Oklahoma City to face the Thunder on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Hornets have managed to extend their winning streak to eight games after defeating the Rockets tonight. They have improved to 24-28 and are now headed to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Saturday (February 7) as well.
