In his own postgame interview, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka was unimpressed and said he was surprised by the ejections. Udoka's remarks: It wasn’t much. Steven could do a lot more if he was really trying to wrestle. It looked like they got a little bear hug and fell down. And thought that’d be maybe a technical at best, but surprised to be ejected.

The two centers locked up while jostling for position in the paint before suddenly throwing each other down to the court at the Toyota Center.