Rockets coach Ime Udoka fined $50K for ‘profane language’ toward ref; Alperen Sengun, Tari Eason also punished

The NBA announced fines for Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka, as well as Rockets players Alperen Sengun and Tari Eason for their comments and behavior following a 120-111 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. 

Per the league’s statement:

“Udoka has been fined $50,000 for confronting and directing profane language toward a game official, failing to leave the court in a timely manner after being ejected and public criticism of the officiating during his postgame press conference.”

Late in the Rockets’ loss, Udoka let referee John Goble have it. Udoka was assessed a technical foul for complaining about what he thought were multiple uncalled fouls against Domantas Sabonis on a drive by Sengun, then got in Goble’s face, earned another technical foul and had to be held back before leaving the court. 

After the game, Udoka was characteristically blunt about what had upset him.

“Missed calls,” he told reporters. “Blatant missed calls right in front of you. You’re calling ticky-tack moving screens and little shit like that, and then you don’t want to call the obvious ones right in front of you. So that was it. Alpie got fouled a few times on that drive and on the layup and they don’t want to call it, and I told him, ‘Get some f—ing glasses, open your eyes.’”

Udoka said he was not trying to show his players that he would stand up for them. He just wanted to tell Goble how he felt.

“It wasn’t even about that, honestly,” Udoka said. “Alpie got one [tech], but take your sensitivity and emotions out of it and call the game the right way. It’s obvious, right in front of you. John Goble, whoever it was, sees it, doesn’t call it. I let him know about it.”

Here’s the play that set him off: 

Sengun was fined $15,000 for “directing inappropriate language in the direction of a fan in the spectator stands after the game had concluded.” In the same clip above, you can see Sengun gets assessed a technical foul after sharing words with the officials following what he felt should have been a foul. While Sengun was jogging back on defense he got hit with a technical, which set Udoka off. Sengun was given another technical in the skirmish, which meant he was also ejected from the game. Though Sengun had to spend the rest of the game in the locker room, clearly there was another incident that happened at the conclusion of the game between him and a fan that warranted this fine from the league.

Eason was also given a $35,000 fine for “throwing a towel and directing inappropriate language in the direction of a fan in the spectator stands after the game had concluded.” It’s unclear if that’s the same incident that got Sengun his fine, but The Athletic’s Kelly Iko reports that following the loss, as Eason was walking towards the visitor tunnel to exit the court, a fan heckled him to which Eason responded by throwing his towel and “yelling obscenities” in the direction of the fan. The Rockets forward attempted to get into the stands to confront the spectator, as Iko reports Eason was “running up the ramp that leads to the lower concourse at Golden 1 Center and nearly reaching the fan” before security stepped in and had to hold him back.

This season, the NBA has fined Rockets guard Fred VanVleet $50,000 for “for confronting and directing profane language” at officials, fined Kings coach Mike Brown $35,000 “for aggressively pursuing a game official during live play” and fined Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers $25,000 “for public criticism of the officiating.”  

Entering Tuesday’s NBA Cup game against Sacramento, Houston had won 10 of 12 games. Had the Rockets won, they would have been the only team in the Western Conference to go undefeated in group play. Houston is still moving on to the quarterfinals.

During the second quarter, the Kings’ De’Aaron Fox and the Rockets’ Dillon Brooks and Jabari Smith Jr. all picked up technical fouls. Brooks played only 24 minutes because of foul trouble and fouled out with more than four minutes remaining in the game.

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