Ime Udoka makes hilarious comment about Jabari Smith Jr.'s suspension

Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. got into an altercation with Utah Jazz point guard Kris Dunn during their game on Saturday, March 23. Both players threw punches at each other and had to be separated by their teammates, which led them to be ejected from the game.

The Rockets outlasted the Utah Jazz in their latest bout. Although Smith only played nine minutes that game, his teammates made sure to take care of the job against the Jazz. Jalen Green had an incredible night, scoring 41 points.

Houston's head coach isn't known to hold back his words. Earlier this season, he was ejected after talking trash to LA Lakers star LeBron James. This time, he's not the one who got into trouble, but he still had something to say about the fight that caused Smith to get ejected.

After the game against Jazz, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka made a hilarious comment about it.

"If a guy grabs you, you're gonna react," Udoka said. "But the throwing punches is the thing, so he'll learn from that. If you're gonna land the punch, you might as well not throw it."

Both players tried to land a punch on each other but missed. Even Smith, who had a longer reach at 6'11", wasn't able to land a single punch. The Rockets big man was suspended for one game, while the NBA issued a two-game suspension for Dunn.

---

Jabari Smith Jr.'s previous altercation with Kris Dunn

Saturday's altercation between the two wasn't the first time. Back on Jan. 20, the two teams played against each other and there was clear animosity between the two players. It started when the Jazz guard set a screen for his teammate, Lauri Markkanen, who grabbed the rebound and was about to bring the ball up the court.

Jabari Smith Jr. got caught in Dunn's screen and the two started pushing each other. The officials immediately saw what happened and blew the whistle to try and stop the situation from escalating.

However, the players weren't ejected and were able to play the entire game. But given what had happened, the friction between the two hadn't died down, which resulted in them fighting on Saturday.

​

There will be two more games between the two teams this season. Their third game will take place on the Rockets' homecourt on March 29. Their fourth game will be at the Delta Center on April 11.

​