The Minnesota Timberwolves lost in crushing fashion to the Los Angeles Playoffs in the Western Conference Play-In Tournament. How much of the loss can be blamed on coaching? Ben Beecken (@bbeecken) takes a look at areas in which it may or may not be fair to put blame on head coach Chris Finch, as well as what adjustments to the rotation and the offense the Wolves should make before the next play-in game on Friday.
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17 Comments
Ah! #1. Great podcast. Listen every day.
Finch deserves a lot of blame. NAW and Nowell were moving off the ball and hard cutting which caused confusion in the lakers defense and that's how they got the lead. The TNT broadcast was pointing this out. Ant was literally standing still on offense and didn't offer anything at all. If you're Finch, you gotta pull Ant out and put NAW or Nowell in there since that was the thing that worked. Idk why he didn't do that since his thing is "going with the guys that has been good all game" and he should've just benched Ant just like he did with Dlo. He just got outcoached in the second half and KAT just flat out refusing to post up Reaves was also a big factor. Just a frustrating loss and Conley should be out there punching a wall but not literally.
4th Q play calling or offensive structure needs to be a little more prominent imo. Because the timing is different/more crucial. Either we’re trying to keep a lead or trying to close a gap. I think our young guys struggle sometimes with how to adapt the flow during the end of a game. But that’s also something that experience provides.
You are wrong. Finch is the problem along with Kat. Finch has no discipline. Example- punching teammates, walking off court and punching wall, leading league in fouls, kat leads the league in personal fouls. He is undisciplined and a narcissist. This is not a winning combo. Something needs to change.
Lakers 3 point shooting is going down because of Beasley not DLO.
I'm now more convinced that Finch is a problem. "He's better at calling timeouts" is not super convincing. KAT recently told Finch "don't get cute, just give me the ball." When that stopped working in the second half, you need a backup plan, not just guard rails.
A big part of coaching is not so much calling plays, but it’s to lead a group of professional men. I don’t see Chris Finch as a guy to calm emotions and to achieve control of the locker room.
idk man 18, 10+ point leads blown this year. Gobert punches teammate, McDaniels punches wall, KAT complains 24/7. to me it seems like he has ZERO control over that room. just my opinion
You can blame Finch as much as you want there's two #1 overall picks that either didnt show up or faded late. Players win or lose games.
Chris Finch deserves the blame, Ben, he does not protect his players enough, and I can assure you that the cultural competency issues that he's having, are not ones that Mike Malone and Steve Kerr are having, he does not protect our players enough, he should have thrown himself out of the game by now ten times over for the missed calls on McDaniel's, Edwards and yes, even Towns..
You cannot blame the employees for failed leadership.
How many times do we see Coach Finch call a timeout to help sort them out… the PLAYERS come out of said timeout and turn the ball over on consecutive possessions!
Coach can only do so much. Players have to perform and execute. Finch got KAT the ball on the elbow multiple times in the 4th quarter alone and what does KAT do? Pass out of it bcuz he a scaredy-cat. Ant got the ball within team action too. He chose to shoot instead of drive N kick or get a bucket or a foul call. Not a coaching problem
There's no way the Lakers should get away with Reaves guarding Kat, but sadly they did.
dude, he is not good at calling timeouts. The Wolves have blown 19 double digit leads to lead the NBA that is coaching……..Finch can draw up plays, but he cannot manage a game.
Judging by these comments, the minnesota timberwolves need a new fan base
You are so wrong it’s totally finch’s fault!
Seeing how exasperated Finch was in the post game, I think head coaching might be too much for him. I don't know who else would be available but Finch might not be the leader we need. I like hearing he holds ANT accountable on practice but we don't seem to see that enough in game