Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka did not waste any time going directly after the officials following a 128-125 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets on Monday.

During his postgame press conference, Udoka, whose team overcame a halftime deficit and had a late lead in regulation, did not hold back in his criticism of the game's referees.

“Just in general, I think it's the most poorly officiated game I've seen in a long time,” Udoka said. “Two have no business being out there, and the crew chief is acting starstruck, so you're seeing all kinds of inconsistent calls. And I'm sure we should have got a few more techs.”

When asked what he says to his team under those circumstances, Udoka said, “Keep being who we are. We're not going to adjust poorly — poor officials. So we're going to do what we do, and hopefully they can adjust and call it the right way.”

The Rockets certainly felt as if they had a legitimate grievance at the end of regulation, when Amen Thompson was called for an off-ball foul with 2.3 seconds remaining and Houston leading 117-116. During an inbounds play, the referees whistled Thompson for purportedly tripping up Tim Hardaway Jr., who fell to the ground before the ball was thrown in. The call was upheld after a Rockets-initiated review, which understandably frustrated the Houston players, staff, and fans, especially after Jamal Murray made the game-tying free throw.

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Although Nikola Jokic missed the would-be game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer, the Nuggets got out to a 7-0 run to start the extra period and managed to hang on from there, handing Houston its third loss in the last six.

With the loss to the current No. 2 team in the Western Conference, the Rockets are 16-7 on the season and fifth in the conference. They are 6.5 games behind the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder, who are 24-2 and have a 4.5-game lead on the 19-6 Nuggets. Houston is also behind the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs (18-7) in the Western Conference standings.

The Rockets will try to get back on track against the conference's last-placed team, the New Orleans Pelicans, on Thursday.