Why Rockets’ Ime Udoka loved Reed Sheppard’s Game 4 fight after previous struggles vs. Lakers

On Sunday evening, the Houston Rockets picked up their first win of the playoffs with a Game 4 blowout victory over the Los Angeles Lakers to stave off elimination and send the series back to Los Angeles. The Rockets were once again playing without Kevin Durant in this one, but it mattered not, as Houston got its most balanced offensive game of the series, winning by a score of 115-96.

This was far and away the best game of the matchup for Reed Sheppard, who scored 17 points on 4-7 from beyond the arc.

However, after the game, head coach Ime Udoka was more impressed by what he saw from the young guard on the defensive end of the floor.

“Found this interesting — Udoka said the Rockets were more willing to switch 1-5, even w Şengün/Sheppard in actions. Sheppard asked to switch more to avoid some coverages that got Rox in rotation. That led to some post seals but Ime said young guard did well to fight,” reported Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle on X, formerly Twitter.

Sheppard’s defense has been a major talking point throughout his career, dating back to his pre-draft scouting process, and when he’s not making shots on offense, as had been the case through the first three games of the series, it threatened to make the former number three overall pick unplayable.

However, Sheppard regained his shooting touch during Sunday’s game, and he also did an impressive job of disrupting things on defense, getting multiple deflections when Los Angeles tried to involve him in the post.

The Rockets still have a monumental task in front of them if they are going to really get back in this series, but they have to feel some relief about finally getting on the board on Sunday.

Game 5 is set for Wednesday evening back in Los Angeles.

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