Chris Finch has been the coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves for just under a year and a half. Already, he has officially entered the exclusive club of Wolves playoff coaches. This club isn’t exclusive because it’s full of great names. Rather, most Minnesota coaches couldn’t find their way to the playoffs. He already has the second-best winning percentage in Wolves history, and he’s about another season and a half from being the second longest-tenured Timberwolves coach. Depressing.
Though the history of the franchise is bleak, Finch has helped this team enter what is shaping up to be the greatest era of Timberwolves basketball since Kevin Garnett. The team is loaded up with young, exciting talent. With Finch’s help, it feels like they are building a culture that can sustain over the long haul. The Wolves stole Game 1 in Memphis and bring a 1-1 series back to Minnesota. Now, the onus is on Finch to respond after Memphis emphatically won Game 2. Finch has gotten the Wolves this far. Game 3 is his time to show us who he is as a coach.
After the Wolves lost to the Grizzlies by 20 points on Tuesday, I found myself reflecting on the last time Minnesota was in the postseason. In 2018 the Jimmy Butler Wolves were able to sneak into the playoffs after a win-or-go-home game against the Denver Nuggets. The Timberwolves won and got the pleasure of meeting the No. 1-seeded Houston Rockets in Round 1.
In that series, the Rockets took the first two games at home. The series then came to Minnesota, and the Wolves took Game 3 on the back of Butler’s 28 points. Suddenly, there was hope. You’ll remember that season that the Timberwolves were on pace for home-court advantage in the playoffs for much of the season. Butler was a dark-horse MVP candidate, and there was a notion that this team had a chance to compete. Alas, all my hopes were dashed in the next game.
I was in attendance during what was at the time the highest-scoring third quarter in NBA playoff history. The Wolves kept Game 4 close through the first half, but James Harden’s Rockets came out firing and put up an astounding 50 points in the third quarter. I sunk deeper and deeper into my seat with each basket as I watched the vision of a deep playoff run gradually obscure. Bit by bit, the image I had painted in my mind, a Timberwolves masterpiece, transformed from a thing of beauty to an unrecognizable mess. The season was over, and I had fully disappeared into my seat.
I’m not going to sit here and fully rehash the Thibs era. Wolves fans know how all that went down. But, Chris Finch is the only other coach aside from Thibodeau to lead the Wolves to the playoffs in nearly two decades. The total failure by the Wolves on Tuesday triggered that memory of the Rockets game. Wolves fans everywhere — at least those who have been following the team for any significant amount of time — have some memory, or many memories, that get stirred up every time the Wolves do something particularly Wolves-y. As Wolves fans, we are conditioned to expect the worst. Because of past experience, our reactions to events on the court often do not actually match the reality of the situation. Let’s face it, Wolves fans have a lot of trauma.
Finch has done so much to help put Wolves fans’ minds at ease and has quickly become a hero for Minnesota basketball fans. He’s had the Timberwolves playing incredibly well this season and doing things that are changing the narrative on this franchise. The Wolves doubled their win total from last season, and much of the credit has been given to Finch. However, it would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the fact that the miraculous turnaround in wins happened to coincide with healthy seasons by Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell.
All the credit for getting the job done, but there was a belief that this roster with Russell, Towns, and Anthony Edwards could be good before Finch arrived. Patrick Beverley and Taurean Prince brought a much-needed veteran presence to the roster and the expectation for this season to be a reversal from last, regardless of who the coach was.
Regular season wins are all fun and good. As a Wolves fan, I’ll never complain about a winning record. But great coaches are made in the playoffs. If the Wolves can’t turn this series around after such a bad loss, it’ll feel a lot like 2017-18 all over again.
Memphis countered the Wolves hard in Game 2. A mix of smaller lineups, loading up on Edwards, and increased ball pressure put the Wolves in shambles from the opening tip. Minnesota managed to keep some semblance of competition through the first half, but Memphis did not let up. It was only a matter of time before the Grizzlies broke the levee and flooded the Wolves’ defense. The rush came in the third quarter, where Memphis’ lead grew to more than 20, and they would never look back.
Finch has got a lot to figure out before tonight’s game. How can the Wolves’ offense get going? How can Jarred Vanderbilt, who has given the Wolves almost nothing the first two games, get more involved? Jaylen Nowell or Jordan McLaughlin? Should Naz Reid play this series? Etc.
Finch’s counter will tell us a lot about who he is as a coach and how well he can lift a team in the biggest moments. He has certainly raised the Timberwolves’ floor, but we won’t know how high the ceiling is until we see how he responds in Game 3.
