Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was blunt in assessing his team’s 116–110 home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday.
“I thought that was a horrendous night offensively,” Finch said. “Our offensive decision-making was awful all night, shot selection, turnovers, execution… yeah, it was just not very good.”
Finch emphasized the collective struggle rather than relying on one player. “Was trying to, you know, go different places at different times. Sometimes Bones to see if he can get us some open looks. Sometimes Donte played with a bit of life out there. Julius and Jaden tried to direct the ball, Naz as well, but the problem was just kind of forced shot opportunities,” he explained.
On isolations against Jaren Jackson Jr., Finch noted, “We’re not going to shy away from any matchup, particularly, but you’ve got to go and make the play or make the next play that’s there.” He pointed to a drop in ball movement in the second half: “Some of it was they quit putting two on pick and roll… we just dried up. A couple times we just jacked it instead of trying to turn a corner. We could have collapsed the defense and made the next play from there.”
Finch praised Rudy Gobert’s performance while reiterating the offensive issues: “Rudy was great… certainly defensively we did what we wanted. Our offense cost us the game tonight.”
He highlighted the impact of missing Anthony Edwards and Mike Conley: “Without those guys, our offense can be volatile. I got to do a better job of getting us organized, calling plays… the decision-making with the ball was the problem.”
Discussing Memphis’ defensive style, Finch said, “They’re physical. They compete on the ball. They don’t let you win the first dribble easily. I thought we could have played with a little more force, gotten downhill more, instead of east-west movement.” He also reflected on shot hesitation: “Sometimes we had open threes and didn’t shoot right away… that’s a good option too. Just hesitancy off the catch, which has been something good.”
Finch concluded on learning from outcomes: “You gotta learn through winning and losing… this was a tight game all the way through. We didn’t wait for the fourth to try to win it, but we’ve got to play with thrust and stay with the dribble, play through the initial point of contact. I don’t think we did a very good job of that tonight.”
The Timberwolves fall to 17–10 and will host Oklahoma City on Friday, aiming to rebound from the offensive struggles outlined by Finch in his candid postgame remarks.
