Chris Finch says defense in second half led Wolves to victory

Chris Finch says defense in second half led Wolves to victory

Chris what was your thoughts on how your team approached this one um leading with their defense and holding Dallas under 100 um defense was really good in the second half first half was not so much you know we kind looked like we’re like stuck in the mud a little bit out there

Like little heavy leged you know kind of a typical game when you get back from a long road trip um you know guys were just trying to find it Rhythm offense Rhythm defense so um they did a really good job of kind of digging in and and

Find it in the second half so was it kind of an approach of anyone but Hardway tonight for you guys yeah I mean we just we wanted to make sure that you know we took their Shooters out as best we could you know like we we experienced

The last time we played them how how that they you know we got up big and they came back getting hot from the three-point line so um you know guys did a good job of battling through screens and The Bigs were up to challenge the the shooting shooting uh players coming

Off the the action so I thought that was you know key for us a lot of games obviously in the regular season how much time and effort goes into having pretty detailed defensive game plans on a nightly basis a lot you know um especially with the way that we’re built you know every

Day we have to kind of think about how we’re going to approach this with matchups and coverages and stuff like that um you know our staff does an amazing job of like really kind of coming to the meeting in the morning being super creative when they need to

Be but also not straying too far away from our foundation which is also important um but yeah there’s a lot that goes into it um you know we you know a lot of teams maybe are kind of roll out the same defense every night but we’re

Not kind of built that way so we got to we got to really kind of pick out certain points of emphasis that we have to kind of focus on so is it nice to have the chest pieces you guys have as well you know yeah I mean it’s great to

Have multiple Defenders that can guard these you know these guys you have guys that are really good guarding Chase guys you have guys really good guard and penetrating guys you have guys that are guard good at guarden pick and roll um you know then you have really good off

Ball Defenders so we do have a lot of like flexibility with that so it is a luxury for us CU you had real trouble making shots in the first half cat’s efficiency really kind of keep you afloat there while you’re looking for yeah absolutely you know then the two

Big threes I think before the halftime gave just enough breathing room to kind of catch your breath um then you know he continued with a big third but uh for sure yeah no doubt about it so then to see Nas knock a few down even in if it

The it was already IND doubt is it just you have to kind of see that happen to kind of get on the rooll again absolutely you know we need him to get back playing with uh the way he had been has been playing most of the season I

Can’t why I left him out there was so he can see the ball go in a couple times so Chris you talked back in training camp about how big of a point of emphasis transition defense was and and keeping teams out of transition offense yeah uh you one of the low frequencies and

Transition offense against you what’s kind of gone into being able to be a good transition team or keeping teams out of transition I mean it starts with effort first and foremost I mean we just have you know we have to make more effort being a little bit more on balance

Um you know when the shot goes up better spacing uh understanding where our transition threats are coming from we actually you know sometimes send guys back more often than not um but I also think it’s really important when you have guys like Rudy and Cat and you know

Jaden now we want these guys to go to the offensive glass NS and that Forces teams to stay in and try to box us out too um when Rudy goes goes to the glass often times they’ll put two guys on them and that you know that that creates an

Advantage for us so even if we don’t get the ball um so that’s been a big point of emphasis you know we we don’t feel like you got to choose whether you go to the glass or you get back we we want to be able to do both and I think way the

Way we are built um it helps us immensely to go to the glass and tonight only only nine points we’ve seen some of these games previously this season where you know kind of if things are are going well for other guys team’s on a roll you

Know in the second half he’s not really trying to force anything for to look for his own shot I guess for him is is this a Is this different for him this year do do you feel like in on nights like this when he’s not trying to really force it

To get his point I was trying to get him the ball get him going you know I know they were you know uh trying to put two on him as much as they possibly could and he did a good job of getting off of it making good plays for his teammates I

Thought he did it right in the beginning we got a lot of really good looks in the beginning of the game um and yeah for sure you know but he has also continue to stay aggressive and find different you know different opportunities within the flow of the

Game um you know maybe some in transition maybe cut you know more catching shoots kind of that kind of stuff um but yeah I know he did a really good job of not forcing anything into the teeth of their [Applause] defense

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch reacts after win over Mavericks.
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