The Minnesota Timberwolves stole Game 1 on the road, surprising the nation by beating the Los Angeles Lakers 117-95. Still, he spoke of the dominant victory in his typical reserved manner.
“It’s Game 1. We know it’s going to be a long series,” Finch said, deflecting the praise. “We’re not under any assumption that it’s going to be this type of game in Game 2.”
“It will be a completely different game, as it is with all these games in this series,” he added. “Just stay on an even keel. That’s the most important thing. We left a lot of meat on the bone out there, a lot of things we know we can do better.”
Finch was right. It is just one game in a long series, and the Lakers will likely return with adjustments in Game 2. But for one game, Finch proved why he is regarded as one of the better coaches in basketball.
Starting with the game plan on offense, Finch made no secret that his primary focus on offense would be moving the basketball and allowing his tertiary players to attack mismatches. The key to that is attacking Luka Doncic on defense, something Finch acknowledged bluntly when asked Wednesday after practice.
“Sure,” he responded. “No doubt.”
Anthony Edwards echoed that sentiment on Wednesday when asked about making Doncic work on defense.
“Yeah. Hell yeah. For sure. Make him move a little bit.”
That’s easier said than done, though. The Lakers consistently had Doncic match up against Jaden McDaniels, but the Wolves forced Doncic onto Edwards in switches and ran plays directed at Doncic’s side of the floor. When the Lakers moved Doncic to different matchups, the Wolves adjusted accordingly to continue to make him move a little bit, as Edwards said.
The plan worked. When Doncic was on the floor, the Lakers had a 131.1 defensive net rating. It started even at 100.0 in the first quarter, but then ballooned to over 150 in the second and third quarters before settling back to 130.8 in the fourth.
The attention to attacking him on defense also affected his offense. His offensive rating decreased to 80.0 in the fourth quarter, which seemed to meet the eye test. LA’s pace slowed to just 78 in the fourth quarter, down from 90 in the first quarter, even though they were trailing.
Doncic wasn’t the only person being figuratively hunted in defense. The Wolves also relentlessly attacked Austin Reeves, finishing with a 131 defensive rating. Doncic gave up 19 points on defense to his matchups, while Reeves gave up 23. The duo combined was the primary defender on 20 of McDaniels’ 25 points.
The Wolves attacked the duo when Reeves and Doncic shared the court. They seemed to prioritize isolating one of the two on the ball handler.
Minnesota used switches or got Reeves or Doncic’s matchup the ball. In doing so, they lured Reeves or Doncic to the side of the floor where the other was guarding another player, and drove to the paint at both of them. Because they don’t have Dorian Finney-Smith or LeBron James’s foot speed, they caused quite a few straight-line drives to the rim for layups or kickouts due to other players helping hard on defense.
JJ Redick and the Lakers attempted to adjust by switching every screen or going zone. However, the Wolves seemed to have an answer for everything. The Lakers went zone during one instance in the third quarter. Nickeil Alexander-Walker immediately set up on the nail, the rest of the team spread out, and McDaniels drove to the mid-range and scored easily. LA abandoned the zone immediately on the next possession.
Offensively, it seemed like the Wolves were prepared for any defensive look the Lakers threw their way. Furthermore, they came in with a game plan focused on relentlessly attacking the weak links of LA’s defense with ball movement and clever isolation plays.
On the defensive side of the floor, the Wolves largely maintained their identity, playing a physically imposing style that punished the Lakers for driving to the rim. The notable difference between the regular season’s sixth-ranked defense and Game 1 was their intensity.
They seemed locked in while defending man-to-man. The Wolves contained LA’s ball-handlers, so there weren’t as many straight-line drives at the rim. They also relied on their teammates to play within structure and not give up open shots.
As a result, Minnesota had a 108.0 defensive rating for the game, a full 2.8 points better than its season average. The strategy was mostly to put McDaniels on Doncic, Julius Randle on James, and then allow Edwards, Donte DiVincenzo, or NAW to shadow Reeves. Then, provide help off the other two defenders on the floor.
The interesting side of Minnesota’s defense is how fast they adjusted. Due to switches, Doncic scored 10 points on Rudy Gobert as the primary defender. Finch subbed Gobert for Reid, whom Finch opted to play 30 minutes to Gobert’s 24.
LA attacked Mike Conley in mismatches in the first quarter, and Finch had a quick hook to play DiVincenzo. Perhaps Minnesota’s shining achievement is holding Doncic to one assist and making him work as hard as possible for his 37 points.
As the series moves to Game 2, a major talking point will be how the Lakers can adjust offensively and defensively after an unmitigated failure in Game 1. However, Finch has shown he will not hesitate to make game plan or player adjustments.
“We left a lot of meat on the bone out there,” he said. “A lot of things we know we can do better.”
If that’s true, the Lakers will face an uphill battle against a Wolves team that doesn’t fear anybody.
