Late in Game 4 of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ sweep of the Phoenix Suns, Mike Conley dribbled the ball up the court, crossing half-court with 1:41 remaining. Devin Booker was playing furiously and with great effort in an attempt to bring his team back in this game and in the series. In his aggressiveness, he shoved Mike Conley toward Minnesota’s bench.
On his way out of bounds, Conley focused on getting rid of the ball before his momentum from the shove took him out of bounds, so he passed the ball to a waiting Jaden McDaniels. Conley had no chance to stop his momentum and didn’t see who was in his path. Standing there on the sideline was an unsuspecting Chris Finch, the Timberwolves head coach, whose attention at the moment was on the court, focused fully on finishing off Minnesota’s Round 1 opponent.
The 54-year-old Finch tried dodging to the right (away from the court), but Conley slammed right into him. The point guard and newly minted “Minnesota Mike” tried to keep his coach up, wrapping his arms around him as they collided. However, Finch went to the floor, screaming in pain and holding his right knee with both hands. Conley could only help his coach to the ground and then shake his head in dismay.
Fewer NBA players are nicer humans than Conley, and Coach Finch undoubtedly shares an excellent relationship with his veteran point guard and team leader. However, this didn’t stop Finch from howling what anyone in the world could see was the F-word as the pain set in.
Finch ruptured his patellar tendon and had surgery before the team’s next series against the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Following surgery, Finch walked on crutches and declined heavier painkillers such as Vicodin or Percocet in favor of aspirin, and the Wolves made the best of things. They moved Finch to a seat just behind the Wolves bench and handed the keys to on-court duties to assistant Micah Nori.
In the next series, the Wolves played a team that Tim Connelly had built before Minnesota hired him and that they had played in the previous year’s playoffs. After losing to Denver in five games in 2023, the Wolves had a full year to consider what they would do differently in 2024. They knew they would have to go through the Nuggets and Nikola Jokic to get where they wanted.
The Wolves knew the Nuggets well and had an entire offseason to prepare for their adjustments and plans in case they faced them again. They didn’t make many in-game adjustments in this series, and it turned more on between-game adjustments as the teams alternated blowout wins. Nori did an admirable job, all things considered, and Finch and Co. executed the playoff plan that they had been working on since 2023, advancing past Denver.
However, the Wolves had to face the new version of the Dallas Mavericks in the next round, a team they had yet to play after their midseason trade acquisitions of Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington. So, while the Wolves had played Dallas during the regular season, they had never played this version of the Mavericks at any point.
In-game adjustments would be crucial in the Dallas series. Therefore, a head coach’s influence on the sideline could change the momentum of a game. Sure enough, in Game 1, the Wolves led most of the game, holding the lead up until two minutes remained in the fourth quarter. The Wolves easily could have won this game but came up just short.
After the game, Coach Finch publicly declared that his players had not executed the game plan of blitzing Luka Doncic and getting the ball out of his hands early and often. It was notable because Finch rarely publicly criticizes his players.
Game 2 was the same story. The Wolves dominated most of the game, even leading by 15 in the first half. They had the lead until the final seconds when Rudy Gobert switched onto Doncic with 10 seconds remaining, and the Timberwolves held a 2-point lead.
Was this what Coach Finch wanted? Probably not. World-class perimeter defender McDaniels was stuck with Dereck Lively screening for Doncic. Doncic sucked the life out of Target Center with a step-back three with three seconds remaining over Rudy’s outstretched arms, and the Mavericks went on to take Game 2.
What’s the point differential between a head coach versus a top assistant patrolling the sideline in an NBA playoff game? What difference does a pain-free head coach make in preparation and in-game adjustments in an NBA playoff Game 1 and 2 against a brand-new opponent? What in-game adjustments might Coach Finch have made if he had been roaming the sideline and not in constant pain?
It would have made at least a couple of points of difference, and that could have been the difference between the Wolves going to Dallas up 2-0 in the series or, like they did, heading to Dallas down 2-0.
Wolves fans who are feeling the pain of missing the NBA Finals after being so close may be looking for their own supplies of Vicodin and Percocet.
