Chandler Parsons Reacts to Ime Udoka Calling the Rockets ‘Soft’: “This Is Not How You Handle Business”

On Thursday, the Houston Rockets dropped a whimper of a performance and lost 133-110 to the Golden State Warriors, effectively ending their chances of finishing 10th and earning a spot in the play-in tournament. In the post-game press conference, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka did not mince words and blamed his team for their tame performance. He said,

“It looked like the moment was too big for a lot of players out there. Sort of looked like deer in headlights a little bit. They looked soft or scared. That’s two bad things for our guys to have. Didn’t rise up to the moment like I thought we would.” 

Udoka’s harsh words left eggs on the Rockets players’ faces, especially on forward Tari Eason, who showed up to the game in a custom t-shirt that read, “Warriors, come out to play.” Former Rockets star Chandler Parsons addressed the situation on the Run It Back podcast. He couldn’t help but laugh at Eason before giving him some sage advice, saying,

“You talk sh*t, you poke the bear, you say all this stuff, and then your head coach comes out after you get smacked and calls you soft? It wasn’t smart. Hopefully, he’ll learn from this and realize this is not how you handle business. This is not what you in this industry of the NBA.”

Parsons added that Eason, who did not play the game and has been sidelined since January due to a benign growth on his lower leg bone, came to a gunfight with a pocket knife. He claimed the Warriors are better than the Rockets and it was unwise to get into a war of words with them.

Parsons is spot on. Eason’s attempts at playing mind games with the Warriors were bound to backfire. He set his team up for failure with his trash-talking from the sidelines and they paid a hefty price.

Klay Thompson roasts Tari Eason after Warriors win over Rockets

Tari Eason first called out the Warriors after the Rockets’ overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. He posted an Instagram story with the caption, “It’s like that,” and yelled,

“Warriors! Come out to play!”

That win over OKC was the tenth of the Rockets’ 11-game winning streak, which helped them cut the gap to the Warriors in the Western Conference standings to one game. However, they proceeded to lose back-to-back games to the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves, before losing to the Warriors and falling four games behind with eight games left.

If the Rockets’ downward spiral wasn’t embarrassing enough for Eason, Warriors superstar Klay Thompson piled on the misery with a strongly-worded message in the post-game press conference. He said,

“[Tari Eason’s trash-talking] is pretty lame, especially if you’re not even playing. It’s one thing if you’re playing and you’re out there competing and can back it up, but you’re just gonna be trolling from the sideline? Bro, what are we doing? We talk mess, but at least we’re out there competing.” 

The ordeal should be a lesson in humility for Eason. The Rockets sophomore should learn that calling out teams is ill-advised, especially when you can’t affect the outcome.