Game 3 | MIN @ ATL

[TimberKat]

We have seen this disturbing trend of blowing leads by a Finch coached team. He is just not a head coach period, keeping him for stability is such BS we are keeping the same bad coaching patterns for the last three years and affecting our young players big time. A team makes a run and the man just gets shell shocked, and does nothing and in turn the players panic and take a badly contested shot. The offense stalls and has zero movement and Finch does nothing about it. Finch has to go!

Does anyone know, did Finch call any plays on the sideline in the second half? Couldn't we put JMcL and Brown in to go small for 5 mins to change the tempo or throw some fouls? I have to say, third year into head coaching, I am not seeing enough in game adjustment from Finch.

[Calinks]

I'll never understand why KAT doesn't punish smaller defenders in the post more often with his baby push shot. It's automatic. He did it a few times in the first half but went away from it in the second half.

KAT's offensive skillset doesn't mesh well with Gobert at all. Smaller players can rotate out to him faster on the perimeter and he has a slow set up / low release point. It works well against lumbering centers, but not Saddiq Bey or DeAndre Hunter types. Plus he doesn't have as many driving opportunities when he's defended by more agile players.

Yea I don't get it either. It's even more confusing than the "Wiggins doesn't dunk anymore" stuff that started happening when Wiggins was at the ripe age of 22. KAT always had a good post-game, he used it a ton for the first 5 years of his career, now it's just vanished, I don't get it, it was a big part of his toolset. He was scoring on guys like Embiid, and Gobert at will with it, now he doesn't use it on a SG? So weird.

A lot of what makes this team so frustrating is it' not like we are asking them to do stuff they can't it just the simple stuff that is destroying us.

[BlacJacMac]

Credit to the Hakws for not packing up after that first half too. My brother was on the fire Finch train to start the season, he's going to be all over it now. Terrible stuff.

How long does a team make the same mistakes over and over again before someone has to take responsibility?

I really like Finch but he disappoints me greatly.

Did Finch do anything to take away DeJounte Murray? Not that I could see.

Maybe you don’t like Finch as much as you think you do?

[Zonarosa]

That is absolutely crazy. This has to be a record for a swing if we lose this game. You get two guards getting hot like this and its game over, good God.

I remember one in the Garnett era where we were up 20 and lost by 20. Definitely second worst game in Finch era. Worst is still blowing a 20pt lead in the playoffs. I also forgot Nov 5th 2021 vs Clipper 20 pt lead into 20 pt loss.

i was at that game, trying to remember the opponent

I believe it was a 50 pt swing

I think it was Washington. Up 28, lost by 27.

[kidfozzy]

Maybe we need WAAY more structure.

Sadly, Finch isn't going to provide that. IMHO, it's time to bring in Becky Hammond as coach.

Would be such a Marc Lore hire. I love it!

[WolfAddict]

Had a meeting start during half time and looked at the score after it had finished... What the f**k happened?! I need to watch the replay but short of the stadium exploding I can imagine what could of gone so wrong...

[BlacJacMac]

Had a meeting start during half time and looked at the score after it had finished... What the f**k happened?! I need to watch the replay but short of the stadium exploding I can imagine what could of gone so wrong...

I wouldn't...

[Folklore]

Just watched the replay. I was about to go to sleep after the missed layup at half with a smile on my face but the fact that he missed it and Mike looked a little annoyed about it I knew something bad would happen....

Towns looked like he was under MK-Ultra the way he was spaced out. Did he break up with his lady? I've never seen him look like that before. He must have just snapped. Finch should have put Mac and Jaden in when DM was getting hot. Pete even said so by not saying it outright. the team needed a calming guy in the game.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Strange game today. We went from bery good to very bad.... coaching is probably part of it. 3rd was terrible but Finch was so slow to adjust. As a Mike fan, one of the worst performance from him i have seen in years. Game to forget, move to next one.

[minimus]

According to Timberwolves Brazil, a deep Voltamos happened!

P.S. Dont want to post this soft porn video here, you can find it on reddit

[Guest84]

Well that was a masterclass performance in Minnesota Timberwolves basketball. Absolute classic…

[Dewey]

Same story … mental midgets.

No cinch for Finch … If he can’t move them past this weak mindset, he’ll be the fall guy.

The world is all about the willing and able … This team is able, but unable. We still cannot buckle down, strap it up, and “will” ourselves in times of need.

[Guest84]

I'll never understand why KAT doesn't punish smaller defenders in the post more often with his baby push shot. It's automatic. He did it a few times in the first half but went away from it in the second half.

KAT's offensive skillset doesn't mesh well with Gobert at all. Smaller players can rotate out to him faster on the perimeter and he has a slow set up / low release point. It works well against lumbering centers, but not Saddiq Bey or DeAndre Hunter types. Plus he doesn't have as many driving opportunities when he's defended by more agile players.

Yea I don't get it either. It's even more confusing than the "Wiggins doesn't dunk anymore" stuff that started happening when Wiggins was at the ripe age of 22. KAT always had a good post-game, he used it a ton for the first 5 years of his career, now it's just vanished, I don't get it, it was a big part of his toolset. He was scoring on guys like Embiid, and Gobert at will with it, now he doesn't use it on a SG? So weird.

A lot of what makes this team so frustrating is it' not like we are asking them to do stuff they can't it just the simple stuff that is destroying us.

From what I've seen over the years, Towns doesn't have a strong lower base or good technique in the post. So when smaller guys are on him, they can uproot him and make it hard for him. That's why he doesn't make any progress (get closer) towards the rim when he backs them down.

Pair that with the fact he started making 3s at a good clip and it just completely changed his game. May be why they don't post him too often anymore. The success rate isn't enough to keep going to it possibly.

[jpatrick]

WTF happened. I only got to watch the last few minutes of the first half. Got home pretty late last night and was going to watch the replay, saw the score, and didn’t bother.

It’s only three games in. Lots of time to get things straightened out. But if we’re a 500 team, being this expensive with this little flexibility player wise, Finch is gone by the all star break. Can’t change the players, gotta change the coach.

[Guest84]

The first half was great with the ball movement, aggression, and decisiveness. 2nd half came and all that stopped. Instead of trapping Murray, they got tight and started playing for self instead of each other. Same old story

[Dewey]

Same story … mental midgets.

No cinch for Finch … If he can’t move them past this weak mindset, he’ll be the fall guy.

The world is all about the willing and able … This team is able, but unwilling. We still cannot buckle down, strap it up, and “will” ourselves in times of need.

[thinktank]

I'll never understand why KAT doesn't punish smaller defenders in the post more often with his baby push shot. It's automatic. He did it a few times in the first half but went away from it in the second half.

KAT's offensive skillset doesn't mesh well with Gobert at all. Smaller players can rotate out to him faster on the perimeter and he has a slow set up / low release point. It works well against lumbering centers, but not Saddiq Bey or DeAndre Hunter types. Plus he doesn't have as many driving opportunities when he's defended by more agile players.

Yea I don't get it either. It's even more confusing than the "Wiggins doesn't dunk anymore" stuff that started happening when Wiggins was at the ripe age of 22. KAT always had a good post-game, he used it a ton for the first 5 years of his career, now it's just vanished, I don't get it, it was a big part of his toolset. He was scoring on guys like Embiid, and Gobert at will with it, now he doesn't use it on a SG? So weird.

A lot of what makes this team so frustrating is it' not like we are asking them to do stuff they can't it just the simple stuff that is destroying us.

From what I've seen over the years, Towns doesn't have a strong lower base or good technique in the post. So when smaller guys are on him, they can uproot him and make it hard for him. That's why he doesn't make any progress (get closer) towards the rim when he backs them down.

Pair that with the fact he started making 3s at a good clip and it just completely changed his game. May be why they don't post him too often anymore. The success rate isn't enough to keep going to it possibly.

I think Towns is still a great post player.

Finch never puts him down there. Once in a blue moon.

[Calinks]

Towns isn't a power post guy. He's more of a finesse post guy which is fine. Jordan and Kobe were also post players as guards and they weren't all power, even KG wasn't all power. KAT was really good as a finesse guy, part of that was his speed against slower bigs so maybe that is neutralized a bit against the smaller guys like the driving situation. I do think Gobert being in the paint does make it harder too. That said, look at his history, he has a pretty effective post game. He even showed it last night, I still think we under utilize it.

He's not Al Jefferson but he's still pretty good, good enough to shoot around a 50 percent clip if he gets a handful of good post looks.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

;t=19s

[Calinks]

Our biggest problem is we still don;t have a damn identity. I thought we did look at the pre-season, we seemed like a rangy, tough defensive team. Maybe we are but our offense is so lost, we can't establish that defensive identity. We need to figure out who the hell we are on both sides of the court, once the team knows that, everyone knows their role, that's when things click. All the good teams know exactly who they are. Denver looks incredible because they know who they are as a unit, everyone does.

When Pat Bev was here, in camp he had every player state their role, that was huge. That wolves team had an identity, that was one season where we knew who we were. It showed. That team was not nearly as talented as this one but they knew what they were trying to do and they executed. That is more important than anything else. This current team is lost.

[TimberKat]

If I just look at the Wolves' stat lines, you think we won. Gobert / Towns double/double. Ant with 31pts and 7 assists. If we consistently put up these numbers, I think we win more than we lose. Just need to play better defense.

I am just looking for anything positive from the game...