Chris Finch criticized for 'bad' lineup in disaster against lowly Spurs
Chris Finch is receiving criticism for his coaching performance in the Timberwolves' 113-112 loss in San Antonio Saturday night.
Leading by 10 points, Finch started the fourth quarter with a lineup of Jordan McLaughlin, Shake Milton, Kyle Anderson, Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. That group stayed on the floor together for less than three minutes and the Spurs outscored them 10-2 while gaining serious momentum.
It was a bad lineup to start 4th. Finch did not coach a good game
— Jace frederick (@JaceFrederick) January 28, 2024
The Wolves were still up 2 when Ant entered the game with KAT on the floor — yes w/ the almighty, 9-win Spurs containing momentum at that point
Those 2 can’t successfully close games right now
Both can be true https://t.co/rcnuLfqAf7
Everyone owns this: that lineup to start the 4th is on Finch. Edwards and KAT with some costly turnovers late. McDaniels with the ill-advised foul on Johnson. Just have to be better.
— Jon Krawczynski (@JonKrawczynski) January 28, 2024
According to Timberwolves reporter Dane Moore, the foursome of Gobert, Anderson, Milton and McLaughlin were on court together for about 6 1/2 minutes and they were outscored 21-6 in those minutes.
Gobert, Anderson, Milton and McLaughlin have shared the floor for 6.5 minutes in this game and lost those minutes 21 to 6
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) January 28, 2024
The Spurs hit 4-of-7 shots to start the fourth quarter and clawed their way from down 10 at 90-80 to down two at 92-90 before Finch called timeout to bring Towns and Alexander-Walker back into the game. Finch waited only 27 more seconds before Edwards was back.
Even with the big guns back on the floor the Spurs stayed hot, making seven straight shots from the 7:14 mark until there was just over 2:30 remaining. In that time they went from down 95-94 to up 107-105.
At the end of the day, Minnesota blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter and had every chance to win despite the Spurs being scorching-hot. It's the latest example in an alarming trend of abysmal fourth quarter performances.
Here's how they've been outscored in fourth quarters in four of their past five games.
- Spurs outscored them 33-22
- Nets outscored them 20-15
- Hornets outscored them 36-18
- Thunder outscored them 28-14
Minnesota (32-14) entered the game tied atop the Western Conference standings while the Spurs (10-36) were on the second night of a back to back as the worst team in the West.
Now the Timberwolves, with pressure mounting, have to play the red-hot Oklahoma City Thunder in OKC on Monday night. The Thunder are 2-1 against Minnesota and have won five straight and nine of their past 11. The good news for the Wolves is that they get Sunday off while the Thunder play a matinee game in Detroit.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.