Steph Curry’s Warriors and Ime Udoka’s Rockets get testy in Houston’s statement win

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SAN FRANCISCO — Contrary to what Steph Curry claimed afterward — with his tongue planted firmly in the cheek — his halftime war of words with Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka was not about a canceled dinner reservation at his wife’s International Smoke restaurant.

The Warriors star was getting handled in the kind of way you seldom see, locked up by a second-year wing, Amen Thompson, who grew up in Oakland and attended Curry’s basketball camps yet, somehow, was a die-hard LeBron James fan who “hated the Warriors,” as he shared afterward.

Curry entered on a torrid three-game streak, having scored 125 points combined in wins over the Grizzlies, Lakers and Nuggets. But he went ice cold against the Rockets. Curry missed nine of his 10 shots, failing to find a crack of daylight. He had more turnovers (four) than points (three) in the Rockets’ 106-96 win.

While exiting to the locker room at halftime, Curry appeared to be voicing his displeasure to officials about the way he was being defended. Udoka crossed paths with the conversation and lobbed a jab toward Curry, leading to a terse back-and-forth. Udoka, true to form, wanted all the smoke after all.

“When people start complaining about foul calls or crying about physicality, you’ve done your job,” Udoka told The Athletic when asked about the exchange with Curry. “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.”

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

— HOOPS HIGHLIGHTS 🎥 (@_HoopsNation) April 7, 2025

Steph Curry on the Ime Udoka back-and-forth: “He made a reservation to International Smoke and canceled it. I was upset with him.” pic.twitter.com/Sy7D0rfJH3

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 7, 2025

The Warriors are 21-3 with both Curry and Jimmy Butler in the lineup. They aren’t ringing the alarm bells after the rare loss. But Houston is a possible playoff opponent and their combination of power and length picks at a clear Warrior weakness — a lack of size and finishing ability at the rim.

Butler didn’t provide much co-star scoring punch. He only took seven shots and scored 13 points, avoiding challenge shots in traffic. Jonathan Kuminga — a young, bouncy wing who scored 33 points against the Rockets earlier this season and historically plays them well — was held to 19 minutes by Steve Kerr, who continues to toggle with his rotation.

The Rockets swarmed Curry, and he didn’t receive much help.

“They did a good job of whatever you want to call it,” Butler said.

As the physicality and overzealous defensive schemes typically crank up this time of year against Curry, the Warriors often grumble privately about the way Curry is officiated, believing he is held and bumped without a whistle too often, especially when trying to break free off-ball and out of the referee’s direct vision.

Butler, Curry’s newest teammate, brought that complaint to the public after the Rockets loss. Curry finished the game without a free-throw attempt for the first time since late January.

“I’ve never seen an individual get fouled more than he gets fouled,” Butler said. “To me, it’s astounding. I don’t know how many years he has? Sixteen? I’m pretty sure it’s been happening for 16 straight years. It really angers me that he’s on my team and gets hacked like that.”

Jimmy Butler on Steph Curry: “I’ve never seen an individual get fouled more than he gets fouled.” pic.twitter.com/05RaYEUL07

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 7, 2025

Udoka and Curry had the briefest and most fascinating cross-team conversation of the night. But the louder fireworks came from Draymond Green, who jostled with Alperen Sengun late in the first half, getting a technical for an elbow while fighting for inbound positioning and then later getting a flagrant foul while nailing Sengun with an elbow on his own layup attempt.

“The tech, I’m not going to stop because the referee says stop and give up position,” Green said. “I already give up six inches and 50 pounds.”

With Sengun’s nose left bloodied as he headed to the free-throw line, Rockets veteran Fred VanVleet talked at length about the tense situation with Green.

“(Green) rattles a lot of teams, and a lot of people,” VanVleet told The Athletic. “That (conversation with Green) was just more so me obviously standing up for our group, and letting (his teammates) know, like we’re good — we’re good. We play the game the right way. If we do what we need to do, we’ll be alright.

“If you get caught up trying to win that battle against him, he’s probably undefeated when it comes to playing that game. So it was just more so keeping us focused. As an older team (like the Warriors), you kind of resort to other things and tricks of the trade. So just wanted to keep us level-headed and locked into what we’re doing.”

The Rockets, meanwhile, are suddenly emerging as a true contender at the perfect time. They’ve won 15 of their last 17 games, with their win over the Warriors coming just two days after a win over league-leading Oklahoma City in which they led by as many as 23 points.

This Warriors win wasn’t as one-sided as the statement game against the Thunder, but the reality that they shut down a player of Curry’s caliber should concern all comers in the postseason to come. Thompson, who some Rockets officials privately predict could become as dynamic and dominant as any of their young talents, put Curry in the proverbial straitjacket.

“I live for those big matchups — playing the greats,” Thompson told The Athletic. “He’s one of the top 10 greats of all time. That’s a matchup I want.”

He impressed one particular teammate who is an expert of sorts on this topic: VanVleet.

When the 31-year-old won a title with Toronto in 2019, it was due, in large part, to the Raptors’ ability to keep Curry in check in the Finals (he averaged 30.5 points, but shot just 41.4 percent overall and 34.3 percent from 3-point range). But that was a team effort, with then-coach Nick Nurse even junking it up with a box-and-one approach that Curry said at the time he’d never seen in his NBA days. This, as VanVleet shared, was something quite different.

“It took a lot more tricks than it did just siccing a guy on him (in those Finals),” VanVleet said. “We knew that we had to hit (Curry), make his life difficult. … Amen’s a different animal.”

These Rockets, who take such pride in their ‘No friends on the floor’ ethos, knew that stopping Curry was the only way to stop these Warriors. It’s not a new concept, of course, but those best-laid plans aren’t typically carried out in such impressive fashion.

Thompson didn’t do it alone, as double-teams routinely came Curry’s way and Udoka’s game plan was heavily geared toward making his evening miserable. It certainly helps when you have the likes of Dillon Brooks flying in for support.

“(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.”

With the win, the Rockets are firmly in control of the second seed, 3 1/2 games up on the Lakers. On the Warriors’ front, this loss drags them back into a traffic jam in the middle of the conference. They are one of five teams with 32 losses entering the regular season’s final week, currently sitting at the sixth seed due to the multi-team tiebreaker scenario.

4. Nuggets: 47-32
5. Clippers: 46-32
6. Warriors: 46-32
7. Timberwolves: 46-32
8. Grizzlies: 46-32

(Photo of Jalen Green stealing the ball from Steph Curry: Cary Edmondson / Imagn Images)

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