Chris Finch did not hide the frustration after the Minnesota Timberwolves let a halftime lead slip away in a 122-108 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday at Target Center. The Minnesota coach said the turning point was simple: “Easy. I mean, we score the first basket of the half. We have a chance to build on that lead. Then we give them three offensive rebounds and or two turnovers or vice versa, you know.”
Finch said those mistakes quickly snowballed into Charlotte momentum. “The offensive rebound were came at the end of great defensive possessions and they led the kick out threes and so the lead evaporates pretty quickly and then we turned it over,” he said. “Just some sloppy handling.”
He also pointed to the Hornets’ shot-making after halftime. “They then got hot from the three-point line,” Finch said. “Like everything we did well in the first half being into the ball being aggressive, you know, we weren’t able to sustain rather in the third quarter.”
Bones Hyland was one of the few bright spots for Minnesota, finishing with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. Finch praised the reserve’s tempo and decisiveness, saying, “It was great. You know, he played with pace. He was definitive. He got to his shots.”
Finch added that Hyland “kind of got to the paint, made some plays” and “battled battle on defense.” That effort was not enough to stop Charlotte from shooting 48.9 percent and pulling away in the second half.
The Timberwolves also lost the rebounding battle, and Finch said too much of that burden fell on Rudy Gobert. “Well, too much of it’s on Rudy,” Finch said. “We got to have, you know, everyone else got to chip in and rebound.”
He said perimeter players also have to finish possessions. “A lot of the rebounds that we didn’t get I think were largely responsible for others,” Finch said. “A lot of our perimeter players needed to get back in and rebound the ball.”
The defeat was Minnesota’s fourth in five games, a slide Finch tied to urgency and discipline. “It feels like we’re a million miles away from the team that we can be and that we are,” he said. “We got to get that back with our connective connectiveness and our spirit.”
Finch said the Wolves are forcing offense and losing structure when things go wrong. “Guys are putting a lot of things. They’re just forcing their offense and it’s not going in,” he said. “We got to make all the little plays, the gritty plays, stay in it.”
Julius Randle led Minnesota with 26 points, and Finch liked his pace early. “He played the way that we need him to play and, you know, create a lot of movement and offense and, you know, kick outs and passing and next action basketball,” he said.
