Ime Udoka on exchange he had with Stephen Curry: ‘When people start complaining about foul calls or crying about physicality, you’ve done your job’

Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka had a verbal exchange with NBA legend Stephen Curry during the Rockets-Golden State Warriors game on Sunday. 

It took place after the second quarter ended. 

Ime Udoka has words for Steph Curry 🤨 pic.twitter.com/N97nmBi32g

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The Rockets not only beat the Warriors, but they also held Curry to just three points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field and 1-of-8 shooting from 3. 

“When people start complaining about foul calls or crying about physicality, you’ve done your job,” Udoka told The Athletic. “That’s the first step in winning the battle. So I told my team, when this team starts crying about it, up the intensity, up the aggressiveness, and make the refs adjust to you.” 

Houston handed Golden State only its third loss when Curry and Jimmy Butler played.

Udoka’s group is in second place in the Western Conference standings. 

“(Curry) is on a run right now,” Udoka told The Athletic. “And the reason they’re playing as well as they are, besides Butler being there since the trade, was Steph playing at a crazy high level. So it’s understanding as a team (that) the concept (was) to stop him. Obviously, Amen is kind of the head of the snake with that, but their whole team was focused on getting him shots.

“I think for the most part, we were (good) on him. We gave up some slips because we were overly focused on him at times. But that’s the plan — hold him down, and see who else can beat us.”

The Rockets are fifth in the NBA in points per game allowed and third in defensive rating. The team looks like a legitimate title contender for the first time in the post-James Harden era. 

Houston is 52-27. Udoka and Co. have three games left in the regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets.