Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was angry with the way his team played in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. After the game, he criticized the team for the way they played, their lack of energy, and outlined everything that went wrong for his squad, and what they will need to do in Game 2 to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
Chris Finch: “Terrible offense down the stretch. Bad shots. Turnovers. No composure. I thought the same at the end of the first half. We haven’t really closed quarters very well, closed halves very well over the last handful of games. Cost us one game in the Denver series. Certainly had an impact tonight too. So, we got to better in clutch moments.”
Chris Finch holds no punches when talking about his team not closing out the game: “Terrible offense down the stretch. Bad shots. Turnovers. No composure.” #Timberwolves pic.twitter.com/oqeCwmC7v6
— Nadine Babu (@NadineBabu) May 23, 2024
Finch was clearly annoyed with the lack of composure from his team in the closing stretch of the game. While the Timberwolves did not play very well, they were still in the game for the most part and had the largest lead of the game, which was by nine points. It was their inability to make shots when it mattered most that cost them the game against the Mavericks.
The Timberwolves were surprisingly led in scoring by Jaden McDaniels, who scored 24 points. Anthony Edwards scored 19 points and Karl-Anthony Towns scored just 16 points. Kyle Anderson scored 15 points, whereas Rudy Gobert had just 12 points, and Naz Reid had 11. Overall it was a poor shooting night for Minnesota, as they shot just 42.7% from the field, 36.7% from the three-point line, and 61.1% from the free-throw line.
The Timberwolves will have to regroup before Game 2, as going down 0-2 before going to play in Dallas will be a difficult challenge for them to overcome. Finch has proven himself to be one of the best coaches in the NBA, and even Anthony Edwards praised him recently for how important he is to the team. He will have to iron out the problems in the squad ahead of Game 2 on Friday night.
Anthony Edwards Held Himself And The Team Accountable For Loss
Anthony Edwards spoke after the game as well about their poor performance. Edwards noted that the team did not play with the right energy consistently enough, and they were off the pace. While he did mention that playing seven games against the Nuggets led to them being really tired, he didn’t use that as an excuse and held himself and the entire team responsible.
Edwards: “I don’t know, I think we just came out flat today. We found our energy then we went back to being flat. I think it was just on us. Everything was on us today. I didn’t get downhill as much. Just stuff like that, we were probably just a little tired probably.”
"We came out flat today. We found our energy and went back to being flat."
Ant following the Wolves' Game 1 loss pic.twitter.com/dFCY1f9gQ3
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 23, 2024
Edwards himself had a poor night. While his statline of 19 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists looks really good, he only shot 6 for 16 from the field, and 5 for 12 from the three-point line. On top of that, Ant had three costly turnovers. As the Timberwolves’ best player, Edwards will have to do better in this series if they want to overturn this deficit.
Edwards and the Timberwolves will play the Mavericks again at home on Friday night. Going into Game 2, Minnesota will have to step up and play like the team we have seen for most of the playoffs. Edwards, who has averaged 28.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 6.1 assists during these playoffs will have to bring a similar energy and stat line if the Timberwolves want to level the series up.
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