The Minnesota Timberwolves suffered a 115-108 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night at Target Center, thanks to Victor Wembanyama’s 39-point outburst that gave the visitors a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
After the game, head coach Chris Finch highlighted execution failures during crucial moments, particularly late in the fourth quarter.
“Some game plan, defensive game plan mistakes hurt us. We missed some open shots for sure and then we just fouled a little bit too much. Just gave them enough breathing room that they needed,” Finch said.
He elaborated on specific defensive breakdowns that shifted momentum.
“It was just bad routes. Rudy decides to go under on the flare screen, that was a three. Pull in on the pick and roll over help, gave up a three in the corner. Just a lot of little things like that just weren’t on point when they needed to be.”
The Spurs capitalized in the third quarter, hitting 6 of 10 from beyond the arc, a stretch Finch attributed to transition defense and early matchups.
“I think they had six or seven threes in the third quarter, so that was about transition, getting matched up early.”
Minnesota opened the night missing its first 12 shots, but Finch noted the team’s response wasn’t solely reliant on offense.
“Some of it was. Missed some open threes. We took a bunch of kind of challenged runners in the paint and when we did have a clean layup, we didn’t finish very well or at all. But guys did a good job, kept guarding, kept making the game about defense. And we were able to claw our way back into it.”
Anthony Edwards posted 32 points and 14 rebounds in a high-usage outing, a performance Finch strongly praised.
“Oh, it was awesome. It was great. He needed that. We needed that. He’s been battling back to find a game like this and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the result that went along with it.”
Foul trouble also disrupted Minnesota’s rotation, especially in the third quarter.
“Yeah, it certainly hurt us a bit. Kind of shortened up the rotation once those guys found a rhythm of playing. When you do that and then you get foul trouble, it really puts you behind.”
Despite late-game frustration, Finch defended his team’s overall defensive capabilities when asked about consistency.
“I kind of disagree. I don’t think we struggled to get stops. Timely stops maybe, but not all game.”
He pointed to shot quality and the third-quarter swing as the primary separator.
“I thought the shooting percentages were pretty low. They had a hot third quarter. That’s really where a lot of those shooting percentages may have been elevated.”
Late in the fourth, second-chance points briefly kept Minnesota within striking distance, something Finch noted as a potential series factor.
“Yeah, absolutely. There’s pathways to go to it, so you got to exploit those.”
He also praised bench contributor Terrence Shannon Jr., who made an impact in plus-minus despite limited scoring.
“Yeah, he was huge coming in when we made that run to fight back in. A lot of it was right there, but he played great. I probably should have gone with him down the stretch to give us another handler alongside Ant.”
Finch addressed a heated moment involving officiating without hesitation.
“Pretty unprofessional, huh? Well, I wanted the timeout and I had called it three seconds earlier and I wanted the timeout. I said I want my three seconds back. He clearly heard me. He looked my way, ignored me, went on with the play, and then that almost cost us a turnover.”
With Minnesota now trailing 2-1, Finch returned repeatedly to execution rather than emotion when asked about the final stretch and broader adjustments.
“Just generally, we’ve got to be able to guard. We can’t expect one person to play forty eight minutes and guard them the whole time. So we got to be able to do different things and give them different looks.”
