Trouble in H-Town? Since Ime Udoka has taken over as the head coach, the young Rockets squad has recorded an uptick in performances. But fans smelled some locker room trouble tonight as Udoka significantly reduced Alperen Sengun’s playing time during the Warriors game. Yes, as his team struggled in the first half, the Center was on the floor for only nine minutes during that period. Moreover, he even headed to the locker room way before the halftime buzzer sounded. While fans feared a potential injury, Udoka revealed the actual reason behind Sengun’s reduced minutes.

Well, the head coach revealed that he was ‘unaware’ of Sengun leaving the bench early in the second quarter. The puzzling explanation he gave for benching him only fueled the rumors of disharmony. “Not handling the pace of the game, the physicality, the blitzes that they were doing when we got it to him or the other bigs in the pocket, we were executing out of that,” said the Rockets coach.

Yes, Sengun struggled to find his groove on offense tonight as he finished with only 14 points. However, he ended up with a double-double by grabbing ten rebounds. But Udoka did not seem too pleased with his overall performance. Although Sengun returned to the floor in the second half, the head coach benched him for the entire fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Rockets pulled off a miraculous 31-point comeback in the Center’s absence and took the game to overtime.

Sengun will take over in overtime now that he has his energy conserved. Many fans thought so. However, Udoka shocked everyone yet again as he kept the Turkish star on the bench throughout the added minutes. That decision did not pay off well as the Rockets scored only two points in OT and lost the game. But Udoka’s treatment of Sengun has surely raised some concerns.

Ime Udoka claims Alperen Sengun needs to find his “rhythm” to turn things around

Well, Sengun played only 21 minutes tonight, which is much lower than his usual average. But Udoka revealed how the Center can turn things around in his favor, “Gotta find the rhythm for sure. We’re moving him around obviously.” While Sengun is getting great looks from his hot spots, he is having a tough time converting the shots. Moreover, opposing teams are going after him inside the paint. And Udoka claimed he needs to make one change, “Whether it’s getting himself in shape to play early season. That might be part of it.”

Sure enough, the head coach has faith in the young star and believes his struggles will not last long. “Continue to work with him and get him the right looks and obviously he’ll snap out of that because quality of looks is too good. He’s not gonna continue to miss those.” Obviously, the expectations are high, especially after Sengun recently inked a five-year $185 million extension to solidify his future in Houston. But now, he needs to hold his end of the bargain and play at a superstar level. Do you agree?