Ime Udoka may be acting purposefully obtuse this week.
The Houston Rockets head coach spoke out on Wednesday about the suspension that was handed down to Rockets forward Amen Thompson. The NBA suspended Thompson for two games without pay over an incident in Sunday’s loss to the Miami Heat in which Thompson sparked a fight by throwing Miami’s Tyler Herro to the ground (video here).
Udoka expressed his disagreement with the decision, noting that Thompson had not thrown a punch.
“I think to get suspended that much for not throwing a punch is kind of odd to me,” said Udoka, per Rockets reporter Lachard Binkley. “We’ve seen guys do more and get less.”
Of course, there was no way that Thompson was going to avoid a suspension for a WWE-style throwdown of Herro (one that actually even caused Herro to sustain an injury). Thompson should probably consider himself fortunate too that he only got two games since other NBA players have recently drawn harsher suspensions for physical altercations.
You can’t blame Udoka for sticking up for his player though, no matter how intellectually dishonest he is being here. Udoka may also be a bit salty since he was one of several other Rockets figures who got punished over their respective roles in Sunday’s altercation.
