During the Houston Rockets’ 107-97 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, head coach Ime Udoka was ejected following a sideline spat with LeBron James. 

Udoka and James argued right in front of an official, which in turn led to technicals against the coach and player, respectively, with Udoka himself ejected from the game. 

Both Udoka and James refuse to say what they said to each other. 

“We had some conversation and [the refs] didn’t like what they heard,” Udoka said. 

James joked that the spat was a friendly conversation about the holidays, claiming the two were discussing “how much we enjoyed Thanksgiving.” 

Videos posted online showed Udoka using the word “b—” toward James. 

The Lakers ended up dominating the game, winning by ten points and keeping the Rockets winless on the road. 

Brad Stevens, president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, said Thursday that rookie coach Joe Mazzulla will return after a “good job” guiding the team in the 2022-23 season. Mazzulla led Boston to the Eastern Conference Finals before losing to the Miami Heat in seven games.

Some Celtics fans, particularly those expecting to win a championship this season, have been critical of nearly every aspect of the team’s postseason performance, including Mazzulla’s leadership. Stevens claimed that the organization is remaining steadfast, however, in its new coach.

“I thought he did a really good job with this group,” Stevens said at Thursday’s press conference. “Everybody is going to overreact to the best players and coaches after every game. That’s always the way it is. We know that going in. So, we have to be able to judge things on the whole.”

In his debut season as head coach, Mazzulla guided the Celtics to a 57-25 regular season, the second-best record in the league. The team won two hard-fought series against the Atlanta Hawks and Philadelphia 76ers and nearly completed a reverse sweep of the Heat after falling behind 3-0 to begin the series.

“Was he perfect? Would he like to have some moments back? Every coach would,” Stevens said. “Even the coaches nobody talks about would. We all that have coached know how hard that is. At the same time, our players, our staff, everybody around him believes in him and we’ve got to do our best to support him going forward.”

Based on Mazzulla’s trajectory over the course of his coaching career, it’s unlikely that the organization would have given up on him after one season. The former West Virginia player went undrafted in 2011 but immediately began a career in coaching and went on to become an assistant coach of Boston’s G League affiliate from 2016 to 2017.

Mazzulla later became an assistant on the main team from 2019 to 2022, making him an optimal last-second replacement for former head coach Ime Udoka when he was suspended and later released for violating team policies. Originally the interim head coach, he was eventually promoted to permanent head coach in February.

Though Mazzulla inherited a team that was already a title contender and fell short of that goal, Stevens said that the team still has plenty to build on going forward.

“Listen, we didn’t have a great playoff run in whole. And we certainly were outplayed for the better part of that Miami series, even though it went seven games,” Stevens said. “So we have a lot of work to do. But it doesn’t mean that we need to mistake activity for achievement. I think we have to understand what’s really good and how hard it is to have a foundation, and then figure out how to build off of it.”

Boston Celtics Head Coach Ime Udoka is facing a season-long suspension for engaging in a consensual intimate relationship with a female staff member. If a suspension of this duration is announced, it will be the longest ever given to an NBA coach.

Udoka’s relationship was reported last Wednesday and the team has been quick to investigate. The coach’s conduct violates the organization’s guidelines, and a season-long suspension is the proposed punishment, according to ESPN. An announcement could come at any point this week.

Celtics assistant Joe Mazzulla will likely take over head coaching duties while Udoka serves his suspension. Mazzulla has worked for the Celtics since 2019 and was previously the head coach at Fairmont State University.

In his first season as head coach last year, Udoka led the Celtics through a torrid second half and subsequent NBA Finals appearance, the team’s first in 12 years. After several seasons as an assistant for several franchises, he took over the head coaching position for Brad Stevens, who accepted a position as the Celtics’ president.

In his first postseason as head coach, Udoka’s Celtics won back-to-back seven-game series against the Milwaukee Bucks and Miami Heat. The team went on to lose to the Golden State Warriors in the Finals, but under their new coach’s leadership, the Celtics are expected to be Eastern Conference contenders for many seasons to come. His suspension may keep him on the sidelines at a point when he could have been integral in sustaining the team’s success.

In his career as a player, Udoka appeared in stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, the team that gave him his first job as an assistant from 2012 to 2019.

Udoka began dating actress Nia Long in 2010 and the couple has been together since. They have a son who was born in 2011.

RJ Barrett banked in a three-pointer as time expired, and the New York Knicks earned a dramatic, come-from-behind 108-105 victory over the Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden Thursday evening.

Evan Fournier tallied a career-high 41 points, and the Knicks erased a 24-point deficit. The teams will close out the home-and-home set Saturday night in Beantown.

Jayson Tatum poured in 36 points for Boston and tied the game up on a step-back jumper with just over a second to play. However, after a timeout the Knicks inbounded before Barrett banked it in for the victory.

“It was a tough shot, but every time I shoot I think it’s going in,” Barrett said. “Honestly, I didn’t even see it because I fell. I didn’t see it go in, but just by everyone else’s reaction I could tell. So that was cool.”

Julius Randle added 22 for New York, Immanuel Quickley 16, and Barrett 13 for the Knicks, who didn’t hold a lead until the final minutes.

Dennis Schroder had 20 points for Boston.

“It wasn’t about the last play again. It was everything leading up to it,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “We need some leadership. Somebody that can calm us down and not get rattled when everything starts to go a little south. I think it snowballs between our guys.”

A Robert Williams tip-in with 1:16 left in the first half gave the Celtics a final 24-point lead, though an 8-0 Knicks run to close it out made it 63-47 at the break.

The Celtics re-established a 20-point lead on a three-point play with 5:33 left in the third quarter, but Fournier followed with consecutive threes and the Knicks pulled to within 82-73 on Quickley’s three-point play with 1:44 remaining.

Randle’s layup brought the Knicks to within seven headed into the final stanza, and they eventually tied it at 96 on Fournier’s jumper with 4:04 left.

Fournier’s three with 2:06 to go gave the Knicks their first lead, 99-98. The teams traded baskets and it was 103-101 Knicks with 44 ticks remaining. A couple of foul shots for each team and it was tied at 105 after Tatum’s jump shot.

“Resilience. It was special for our team,” Randle said. “We kept battling. We obviously didn’t want to get in a hole, but we found a way to win the game.”

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum missed Monday’s 108-103 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves as he entered Covid-19 health and safety protocols; Marcus Smart sat out because of a hand laceration he suffered in a Christmas Day loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Tatum joined Dennis Schröder, Josh Richardson, Aaron Nesmith, Bruno Fernando, Enes Freedom, Justin Jackson and C.J. Miles in Covid protocol. Grant Williams and Al Horford were cleared to return, and neither player will have a minutes restriction.

“It’s been the story of the year,” coach Ime Udoka said. “Lose a few, get a few back. So we’ll mix and match until further notice. Jayson is a big one, but it’s been piecing the puzzle together all year.”

Tatum was sidelined for nearly three weeks last January after testing positive for COVID and said he dealt with aftereffects for about three months — even using an inhaler before games. He’s averaging 25.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game this season but shooting a career-low 41.7% percent from the field and 32.9% from three-point land.

“It’s definitely a unique circumstance, like anything this league or this world has ever seen,” he said following Saturday’s loss. “I think unfortunately it’s kind of like the new normal, and it’s not just us, it’s everybody in the league. Every day it’s kind of like a toss-up, trying to figure out who’s going to be there, who’s available, who’s out. Just a lot of uncertainty.

“But I think at the end of the day it’s our job. Whoever’s available, whoever we’ve got, we’ve got to go out there and try to figure it out.”