Ime Udoka was frustrated, his Rockets were being pushed around by a Lakers team not known for their physicality. Udoka had already picked up one technical when, in the fourth quarter Cam Reddish fouled Tari Eason on a drive, and as Eason walked to the free throw line Reddish walked into and brushed past him, which led to a few words between the two and them being separated.
On the side during this, LeBron James and Udoka had some pretty casual-looking words, but whatever was said earned them a double technical, which meant Udoka was ejected.
Ime Udoka got ejected after having some words with Bron 👀 pic.twitter.com/GzNak5ZLzn
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 3, 2023
This angle of the LeBron-Udoka exchange 👀 (via unitedlife4ever/TT) pic.twitter.com/w0edFgn8Tb
— Overtime (@overtime) December 3, 2023
What was said that earned that response from the referee?
“We had some conversation, and they didn’t like what they heard,” Udoka said.
“Thanksgiving” was what LeBron said the pair talked about. LeBron has picked up three technicals in the last five Lakers games.
The Lakers picked up a 107-97 win behind 27 points and 14 rebounds by Anthony Davis, who brought the physicality, and Udoka was bothered by his team’s response to that.
“I didn’t like our physicality,” Udoka said. “To kind of get punked by a team that’s not known for physicality or punking people is not a good sign.”
