‘We’re warriors’: Led by Ime Udoka, Rockets fight back from 3-0 hole vs. Lakers

HOUSTON -- No team in the history of the NBA playoffs has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, but the Rockets are trying to change that.

Entering Friday’s Game 6 of their first-round matchup with the Lakers, the Rockets are just the 16th team in NBA history to force a sixth game after losing the first three of the series.

A potential Game 7 would be Sunday in Los Angeles, and if the Rockets somehow pulled off a pair of wins this weekend, they would be the first NBA team to ever win a series after trailing 3-0 (out of 161 all-time scenarios).

As All-Star center Alperen Sengun sees it, much of the credit for Houston’s fighting spirit is due to the team’s coaching staff, led by Ime Udoka as head coach.

Speaking at Friday’s gameday shootaround, Sengun said of Udoka:

He’s been doing an amazing job. We know where we came from. With him, we’re fighters. We’re warriors. When I say we are hungry, I’m not saying just the players. The coaches are the same way.

When we were down 3-0, everybody was still believing. We never give up. That’s our chemistry, and it comes from them (coaches) most of the time.

And as teammate Jabari Smith Jr. clarified, the Rockets aren’t thinking about history just yet. Led by Udoka, the focus remains on one game at a time.

“We’re just thinking about Game 6,” Smith told reporters. “We’re just worried about the task at hand, tonight. We’re thinking about doing things that we’ve got to do to win.”

“We’re not thinking about Game 7,” Smith concluded. “We’ll think about it tonight, when we’ve got to pack our bags (for a trip to Los Angeles). Not right now.”