Photo Collage Courtesy of LeBron James & Houston Rockets / Instagram
Coach Ime Udoka got ejected from the Houston Rockets vs. Los Angeles Lakers game Saturday night at the Crypto.com Arena for jawing with LeBron James.
Legendz NBA originally posted the viral video on the internet. It captured the Rockets coach saying, “Stop crying like b***hes, man. Stop b***hing.”
The clip cut to James checking Udoka. “We’re all grown men. Nah, that b***h word ain’t cool. Don’t use it so loosely.
The 46-year-old divorcee responded, “What are you gonna do about what I said? Walking over here like you’re gonna do something…soft ass boy.”
With eight minutes left, the referee signaled the game to pause and ejected Udoka — it was his second technical for jawing. James also received a tech.
That should’ve stopped Udoka, but the 46-year-old continued.
“Stop b***hing! Acting like you’re gonna do something,” he said as James walked away with the ref.
The Lakers beat the Rockets 107 to 97.
In a postgame interview, reporters asked Udoka about his confrontation with James.
“We had some conversation, and [the refs] didn’t like what they heard,” Udoka said.
Reporters asked James in the locker room about his exchange with Udoka, precisely what the tiff was about.
“Thanksgiving. How much we enjoyed Thanksgiving,” a nonchalant James answered.
“Looked very friendly,” the reporter sarcastically said.
“Yeah, it was.”
The internet reacted to their heated exchange.
“So, he let Draymond call him that, and now they cool, best friends almost, but you wanna be soft and cry when someone else says it?”
“Ime standing on bidness.”
“This is the energy the game is missing.”
“Udoka right. Dudes up double digits and still crying, lol. Wanna flex after [everyone] but mad when you get bumped a bit.”
“Bron the better man. I would brought up Nia Long.”
“Came into the league the same year and getting dropped off as a Coach the same way he did as a player is comedy. You know he was at home the whole night punching air about this.”