Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch pointed to defensive lapses, stalled offense and a loss of urgency after New Orleans erased an 18-point deficit to win 119-115 on Friday night at Target Center. The result dropped Minnesota to 32-21, while the Pelicans improved to 14-40 behind efficient interior scoring and late execution.
“Yeah, I mean, we got up 18 and we just relaxed. You could feel it. You could see it,” Finch said when asked about the third- and fourth-quarter shift. “There was a couple offensive rebounds that beat us, too, and that kind of started it.”
The Timberwolves allowed Trey Murphy III to swing momentum late in the third quarter, a stretch Finch highlighted when evaluating defensive coverage. “The quarter ends with a bunch of Murphy threes, which you know, we shouldn’t we should have been up and pressuring them off the line,” he said.
Zion Williamson’s rim pressure was another decisive factor after the forward scored 29 points on 11-for-13 shooting. “We just give him too much runway. Guys back off, you know, they let him come at him and, you know, he’s he’s a handful if you do that,” Finch said.
Minnesota struggled to generate offense in the second half, finishing with 45 points after scoring efficiently early. “I mean, we had no pace in the game really,” Finch said. “Everything kind of bogged down too kind of an ISO game. We didn’t didn’t really get a flow where we really created a lot of open looks for each other either.”
Anthony Edwards finished with 35 points but cooled after a strong start, and Finch said the shot quality changed as the game tightened. “I thought he did a better job of getting a little bit deeper in the first half,” he said. “I thought he had some decent clean looks from three just that were just off in the second half.”
Rudy Gobert recorded 12 points and 16 rebounds, yet Finch said the overall rim protection did not meet expectations. “I didn’t like our rim protection tonight from from him or, you know, or anyone else,” Finch said. “He had a decent stat line, but you know, the impact overall by him and the others at the rim was just not there.”
Foul trouble for Jaden McDaniels also affected Minnesota’s defensive structure, especially during Murphy’s scoring surge. “Yeah, I think you know certainly hurt us,” Finch said. “We didn’t have him out there when you know kind of Murphy went off.”
Finch also acknowledged a recurring pattern when Minnesota builds leads but fails to close games. “Often times when we get do build leads and then you know, we instead of going for the the kill, you know, we relax and you can’t do that in the league anymore,” he said.
The Timberwolves shot 42 percent from the field and 32 percent from three-point range, while New Orleans hit 54 percent overall and finished with 29 assists. Minnesota will look to respond Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers as it tries to maintain position in the Western Conference playoff race.
