MN Timberwolves Credit Chris Finch Meltdown for Huge Victory

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Chris Finch - NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder at Minnesota Timberwolves
Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Timberwolves entered their contest on Friday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder with everything to prove. Remember, OKC knocked the Wolves out of the 2024-25 NBA Playoffs, on their way to winning a title.

On top of that, the 2025-26 Thunder were 25-2 on the season, entering last night’s Western Conference Finals rematch. Thus, it wasn’t all that surprising when, midway through the first quarter, the MN Timberwolves started to fall behind.

Edwards looked rusty, after missing a couple of games with an injury. His teammates weren’t hitting shots, either, and the referees forgot to turn their whistles on before the game.

Minnesota Timberwolves coach loses his mind on NBA referee

Then, with the Wolves down five points with 6:19 remaining in the quarter, OKC committed two egregious against Edwards and Julius Randle that were not called. And just like that, Chris Finch erupted.

The fourth-year head coach stormed onto the court, in chase of crew chief Courtney Kirkland, yelling and screaming profanities the entire way, as his assistant coaches attempted to hold him back.

Obviously, Finch was ejected early on during the exchange.

It might be the most riled up I’ve ever Chris Finch. Normally, he is calm, cool and collected… but he has been known to run hot when refs get him going. Still, it had been a while since we’ve seen anything on this scale.

Anthony Edwards returns with massive performance

Minnesota went into early warmups on Friday without knowing whether or not superstar Anthony Edwards — who had sat out the two games prior — would be able to play.

Thankfully, Ant did play because the Timberwolves needed every last one of the 26 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 32 steals and 2 blocks that gave them on one of the best all-around nights he has played this season.

Related: Kevin Garnett Finally Returning to MN Timberwolves

And then, to cap it all off, Ant hit the game-winning three pointer that put the Wolves up 108-107 with 40 seconds left. The game finished 112-107.

Chris Finch credited for MN Timberwolves win

After the win, however, it wasn’t Edwards who Wolves players were crediting as their key to victory. Instead, everyone in the locker room afterwards praised Chris Finch.

According to every single Wolves player after the game, it was Finchy’s ejection that gave them the juice needed to overcome the league’s best team… even though the head coach watched 85% of the game from his office.

“I’ve never seen him run on the court. … I’ll take it. It got us going, flipped the script. It was exciting to see… He definitely got his money’s worth” – Naz Reid

“I know coach Finch didn’t want to get kicked out right there. But that really got us going.” – Micah Nori

via The Athletic
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