The Minnesota Timberwolves scored just 88 points in an 11-point loss to the Timberwolves on Tuesday, but head coach Chris Finch says the fault does not solely lie with his team. According to Finch, the officials are also to blame for allowing his players to be “physically beaten” on the floor.
“On defensive rebounding, they do a lot of fouling, shoving, holding, pushing, and tackling Rudy,” Finch said, via ESPN. “That’s clear. We sent a bunch of those clips to the league. In fact, I’m not sure I know another player in the league with Rudy’s pedigree who is allowed to be physically beaten on the way he is. And so we’ve got to address that one way or another.”
Finch says he has sent clips to the NBA league office, begging them to take action against the unfair officiating. The Timberwolves will try to be better prepared in game 2 tomorrow, but there’s only so much they can do when their key players are being mauled in the paint.
“We’ll certainly try to take justice into our own hands whenever we can — I think that’s the nature of a physical sport — but by the same token, my god, you should see some of these clips,” Finch said. “They look like pulling guards and linemen out there, just taking shots at Rudy.”
The Timberwolves went 15-17 from the free-throw line in Game 1, but they still don’t think it was enough to cover the abuse they are taking in the paint. With Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler in the frontcourt, the Warriors have taken to getting physical against Minnesota, and it has limited their scoring to just 88 points on their home floor.
Of course, according to Warriors coach Steve Kerr, he had his problems with the Timberwolves’ defense as well. In a recent chat with the media, he claimed that he’s on the verge of sending his own complaint to the league office over the Wolves’ defense on Curry.
“I was upset. The first 10 minutes of the game it was just like Houston all over again. They’re bear-hugging Steph,” said Kerr. “They could’ve called six fouls. The league has established physicality in the playoffs. It’s crazy what’s happened, everybody is fouling each other. I just feel like the [officials] have a really hard job because playoff basketball is physical, and they’re going to allow more. But I think they could have called a foul six, seven straight possessions guarding Steph. I’ve got my complaints, too. We all do. We watch the tape, we see all the fouls on them that weren’t called, they watch the tape, and they see other ones on us that weren’t called. It’s a physical game, it’s just going to be, and both teams have to adjust. I’m getting ready to send my own clips into the league.”
There’s no question that the NBA is allowing a different level of physicality in the postseason, and it’s having a different effect on the teams that are left. For the notoriously undersized Warriors, it’s made their path to victory that much harder as they fight to avoid elimination in the second round.
No matter how the games are called going forward, the Warriors must be prepared for all scenarios if they want to advance to the Western Finals. With limited depth in the frontcourt, the physicality of this series will play a major role in the outcome, and the Timberwolves will be left behind if they cannot properly adjust.
