Chris Finch: “Denver had the chance to pick who they wanted to play coming down the stretch and they chose us. We used that as motivation. They didn’t have to choose us. They chose us”
David Adelman was at a severe coaching disadvantage in this series
He’s not very good Bob
Fired a championship coach in Malone and got the guy who did the cover of Mad for Cartoon Network to be their head coach. No way any player genuinely takes him seriously lmao.
He also was the ‘No, David’ kid
Then he starred as Andre in The League
He was also in a throuple with Joe Exotic.
He was also on the FBI most wanted list from 1982-1990
The page from inside his mouth with all food and teeth legit scarred me as a 4 year old
Pretty sure he was the head page at NBC as well
who did the cover of Mad for Cartoon Network
I can’t tell if you think Mad Magazine is a Cartoon Network thing.
Fired Malone over Jalen Pickett lmao then chose Brown over Westbrook. Unserious franchise
Actual insanity to see Bruce Brown on the Pacers/Raptors and still choose him over Russ. I get he’s a fan favorite but his minutes are damn near worthless
My dude. Russel Westbrook was not the answer to their problems .
A game where the Nuggets had no energy and Murray playing like shit is the EXACT kind of game Russ thrived in last season. At the end of the day no one’s saying he fixes the team but giving 14 playoff minutes to a guy who puts up 1/1/1 on 0/3 shooting 3 TO and 3 Fouls didn’t really help.
Westbrook won them playoff games last year
Westbrook 100% would have improved the Nuggets this season if he were still there. Cut some bench scrub to free up space if needed.
Westbrook is FA
They had tyus. He had them within a possession and adelman chose to sub in 4⁄13 Murray. They had the rotation to win.
Westbrook would’ve probably fouled both Gobert and McDaniel’s to prove a point
This Denver squad lacked any hustle and heart compared to last year’s squad
Last yr had MPJ play with one functioning shoulder and still did way better than fully healthy bum ass Braun did ; along with Russ being the only functional bench piece
Russ couldn’t have been worse than Jamal Murray was tonight
Wrong
Idk man maybe they still lose this series but Russ was pretty good for Denver and at least would have hustled crazy on defense all series when virtually nobody else on Denver was guarding anyone.
Ever since that Lakers stint everyone just acts like Russ sucks, he is still a great contributor in the right system and an absolute effort machine. They should not have gotten rid of him. The ghost of Bruce Brown and the last dregs of Valuncinias gave them NOTHING this series.
They gonna announce it over the weekend or wait until Monday?
Many of us said it nuggets should’ve tanked to face rockets and OKC.
Wolves are a bad matchup for Denver and they have superior coaching
This wasn’t just a matchup issue tho. Nuggets weren’t getting past okc or the spurs. I don’t think they would have gotten past a game 5. Nuggets need to tell restructure some of their roster.
I thought it was Nuggets > Spurs > OKC > Nuggets
WIth the state Murray is in, Nuggets werent getting past the rockets either
Yep, this shows that this current iteration ain’t it and we need a full retool. Get Adelman the fuck out too. You could see him losing the dressing room bit by bit this spring and then all at once this series.
Time for Ryan Saunders to shine.
He went to memphis iirc. Basically insta left after not being promoted over adelman although as much as i root for ryan hes not a hc level guy rn
I’ve said this a lot of times, but Ant wouldn’t be the player he is if Saunders continued to coach our team. He just parked him in the corner all the time, didn’t know how to use him.
You got that right
David Adelman is nepotism gone wrong. he has watched years of Jamal Murray get shut down by Jaden McDaniels and still spent 14 seconds of every possession trying to get them into the same pnr that Minnesota has no trouble defending. He then falls ass backwards into a lineup that works with Tyus Jones out there as another creator and takes him out as soon as he misses a shot and commits a foul.
Adleman should go back to coaching High school, oh wait he cant because he can’t stop drinking and driving.
Hey denver, when you have one of the best players in the world and a pretty good roster, maybe hire a real coach and not somebody’s dumbass kid who failed upwards their whole life. The guy can’t even be trusted to find a decent barber and you trust him to run your team?
It doesn’t surprise me Tyus was +5 and the only positive Nugget. They really had something there taking PG duties off Murray but keeping Murray’s gravity on the floor.
The Wolves biggest issue was obviously the injury cascade. You can’t play Tyus when like Ant or Ayo are on the court. But when we gotta give heavy minutes to Unc Mike Conley and Jaylen Clark, you should be able to find a way to hide Tyus on defense.
Can’t wait for his podcast.
I am against for having prejudice for how people look but like come on, you couldn’t have picked a more unserious looking human being to run a NBA team with the tallest humans on earth. The coaching gap was bigger than his teeth gap.
Talk your shit
Absolutely deserved. I’m not a fan of Finch, but that’s an excellent quote.
It hurts. But if nuggets can’t match wolves intensity every year we can’t win it all. I’ll take this to the chin
I honestly think its crazy how little talent your team has on it, I don’t think its just effort. Do you actually wake up excited to see Christian Braun and Spencer Jones play basketball for you? It seems like the drop off is massive after Jokic and Aaron Gordon.
bro…. Spencer Jones was a 2way player at the start of the year
dunking on him is crazy, he was one of three guys that really rose to their role
I am not dunking on him, I am saying its a pretty big drop off in talent. I think DEN has done a poor job putting together depth.
Nah it’s losing AG and Peyt that killed the momentum for us. And the lack of effort from the starters. The bench is fine
Yup they were our two best defenders. Gordon is clutch and does the dirty work.
If anyone wonders why nuggets gave up so many points in the paint that’s why
That sounds fine going up against a fully healthy wolves, but we were missing Ant, Divo, Ayo, and Anderson.
Even the championship season team wasn’t really that deep, but had way better injury luck + a remarkably better version of Murray than we saw this series. Didn’t have that this time around, and Finch really coached circles around Adelman considering the injuries yall faced
Damn lol I know Jamal had a bad series but to not include him at the end there is crazy.
Because he got the NBA to ref your team fairly for a couple of weeks?
Lmao look at everyone you riled up here
It’s hilarious everytime how quickly they can come find comments like this.
This is 1000% why. And they know it even if they won’t admit it.
Love it from hearing Mike Malone talk so much shit when he was coaching Denver
Yea I said Mike
Finch is the first coach playoff riser
legitimately I think all the egos on the team shut up and start listening to the coaches when the playoffs start lol
Your team is literally all bright lights merchants. They don’t give a fuck until the games actually mean something and then they lock the fuck in
Imagine how frustrating it is during the regular season.
Yeah there was a long stretch where we were healthy and I genuinely thought suns would over take us for the sixth seed. Glad we won but its not always fun being a timberwolves fan
I’m having a ton of fun
One of our best games ever, especially considering who we were missing
Fr, we would beat OKC then lose to Washington or something the next game
Hey, I’ll have you know that you very much swept us!
Idk about the other tanking teams but you didn’t struggle with us specifically!
Not this year, but it has been a struggle in the past!
We lost to the kings I remember that was a rough one
There are a few regular season games over the past couple of years that just live in my brain. Losing to the Giannis-less Bucks by blowing a 30 point lead. Obi Toppin turning into prime Steph Curry.
It’s just part of this team’s identity, unfortunately.
Been saying this forever with this group. They’ll get shit on by a lottery team on a Tuesday in January looking like they dont give a shit then beat one of the top seeds the same week
which is insane because it is the complete opposite of what minnesota has seen for basically the entire history of all professional sports
Bro this team is out here losing games to the Nets and to the Pelicans. No offense but c’mon man you that shit is maddening when you know they can go toe to toe with the best teams the league has to offer.
To be fair, better that than the opposite
Finch was talking about how when the staff got on them in the regular season the players were saying it’ll be different in the playoffs.
This team just doesn’t give a fuck about the regular season. Can’t really blame them!
Yeah, but they should definitely start caring
I think that’s true because they were trying to avoid injury stuff. See what happens. Apparently.
The Knicks are kinda like that too
I feel like people talk shit about Finch every regular season, but his teams always elevate. Prob not in the top 5 coaches rn, but I would not think someone is crazy if they had him there
I don’t get the Finch hate. I think he’s done a great job for the Wolves and is a big part of turning the franchise around.
I remember when Nurse brought him in as an assistant to draw offensive plays for the Raps ‘cause Nurse is so damn bad at it. It worked and Raps started losing games when Finch left midseason to the Wolves.
I get downvoted whenever I point out that he plays the long game.
People just want someone to blame for our silly rough stretches.
And pretend players like rob fucking Dillingham (sorry Rob) deserve minutes so they can shit on the coaching.
To be fair people wanted TSJ to get more minutes and he only played because there was no one else.
Overall I think Finch has been a fantastic playoff coach though.
TJ was injured during the season and was very much not playing like this for most of it.
He was to end the season, in admittedly meaningless games, but his main skill is attacking the rim and that’s what the team needed. It’s literally my only criticism of Finch this series. What he was able to do outside of that one specific thing has been outstanding.
Finch is injury prone so idk
Spoelstra
There is a unique pain in seeing Spo stretch mid rosters beyond their abilities year after year, while having to watch superstars like Jokic or Giannis or whoever buster out in the first round because ‘they dont have enough help.’
I will die on the hill that a talent like Jokic + Spo + the Sioux Falls Skyforce is a finals contender every year. Obviously we’re a little spoiled as Heat fans, but it makes me sick to have to watch superstar teams be this shallow, when good coaching, scouting, and development can fill out the depth of literally any roster.
He’s the anti-Sloan
Ty Lue qualifies as well
Honestly? Carlisle.
Wolves work when they listen to him.
Oh shit, I’ve never even thought of that as a concept, but you are correct. You need to get this in the public lexicon.
Spo too
He just needs to not run into Okc and they might win it all
finch imo is the best timberwolf coach of f all time . better than adelman and thibs and saunders
I have come to the conclusion that this team will never care about the regular season no matter how maddening it may be. If this is how they play in the playoffs then I guess we need to accept it.
This is why people wanting Finch fired after every loss in the regular season is so fucking annoying.
I am one of those. It drives me insane how little they seem to care during the regular season and feel fine flirting with the playin, but then playoffs come and I get proven wrong again.
He’s the reverse Flip. Those Flip Seasons were always such a mirage. First round exit after first round exit.
Flip’s a cool name though, am I right?… Right guys?..
There’s a pro wrestler named Flip Gordon! He does Flips.
I would prefer it over Phillip tbh
The only issue with this, as a fan of another team who does the same thing, is that it does come to bite you in the ass. Like yeah being playoff risers is amazing and feels great, but wouldn’t it be nice to turn it on and enjoy destroying a couple of 8 seeds instead of having to battle in 7 game series in the first two rounds every year?
It eventually gasses you out when you have to play the best teams in the CF or Finals, and it kind of bit the Knicks and Wolves in the ass in previous years.
I mean in the Western conference every matchup is tough. Hell even in the East this year ita starting to show that seeding barely matters in the NBA anymore its just all about matchups.
This team can’t win as favorites. They need the chip on their shoulder like they got this series.
That’s on the roster construction not on the coach. When they listen to the coach he’s right.
How many times do the players need to be like “yeah we should’ve followed the gameplan better” after an ugly loss for Wolves fans to understand that sometimes the guys just fuck around in the regular season lol
I mean after seeing the crowd like this and how our bench players play at home, I feel like having home court in a series would be nice
To be fair though that malaise does give you a fuckong gauntlet to have a shot going den, SAS, OKC to even make the finals
With that mentality, this current Wolves roster will never win a championship barring injuries / easy matchups for 4 straight rounds (very improbable). Sucks they play this way in the regular season since I love them so much
Yeah I don’t disagree. Having to go through the top 3 seeds every year is not a recipe for success
They played the 7 seed without their best player last year
As the 6th seed if you wanna add context
Jimmy Butler must have left an impression during his time there
Fuck Jimmy Butler
“Fuck them! PAY ME!”
Ngl, that is one of my copes when they lose an “easy” game.
Always coped that:
Scheduling, Wolves had a rushed sched to match the West Conference
They have to travel far for some teams so its rough
And
Coached circles around Adelman all series long
Same way Finchy out coached Redick last year. That week off before the playoffs does wonders for the Timberwolves.
both coaches reverted to the strategy of “don’t sub out my stars in an elimination game against a team that tries to wear you down all game and capitalize at the end”
The bizarre aspect though, is the way frankly in both seasons but especially this one, the Wolves would have just defensive lapses in the regular seasons and moments where the offense looked really disjointed. And both times there was just another gear in the playoffs. Rarer to see that sort of turnaround.
He cooked JJ last year too
Pyrrhic ass victory for the Nuggets beating the Spurs during the last game of the season.
Truly a won the battle, lost the war type situation that transpired afterwards.
Had they lost that game they arguably would be in the second round
Would’ve swept the rockets
I 100% agree. Max 5 games
They didn’t try to win the game. We rested Wemby and played like ass.
Playing Jokic (only first half) + Val against no wemby and Kornet made sure it was free eats in the paint lol
nah they just didn’t want to lose obviously enough. Strawther scored 25 points, Roddy scored 15 points, Bruce Brown 7⁄8 shooting. and they stayed the game for way too long. In our tank-off vs Jazz, Dariq Whitehead caught fire early and had 16 points on 6⁄10 shooting in the first 14 minutes of the game, we were only down 3 at the time. He was subbed off, We never made a single substitution until 3 minutes into 4th quarter when we are down by 40. He still ended up leading our scoring with 21 in 23 minutes on only -7, and our 5 other players were at 48, 48, 41. 38, 39 minutes at -46, -46, -44, -42, -45. The win is fully on Denver to keep on riding guys like Strawther when they’re hot.
100% true. They could’ve lost that last game against the Spurs and be playing the Lakers right now, a series they arguably would’ve easily won
Edit: Rockets, not Lakers. Statement remains true.
They definitely tried to give that game to the Spurs, who were trying to win. Spurs are the sideways glancing muppet meme seeing this comment lol
I still don’t quite understand what was going through both of our heads. The obvious choice was to get Denver onto the other side of the bracket - they had our number but the Timberwolves were designed specifically for Denver.
Were we trying to win? Was Denver trying to lose? If the answer to either one of those two is yes, how exactly did things end up the way the ended up?
It made no sense watching it. The 3-6 teams were essentially at the same record, but Minnesota had clear superiority in a 7 game scenario compared to say, the Rockets. Minnesota, in my opinion was and is the best team out of the 4-5-6 spots and Denver winning that game obviously doomed them in the long run
I think the Spurs were trying to win that game but their shooting was so off it didn’t matter
Yeah we bricked every 3 down the stretch (Fox cooked)
This is 100% true. But Denver could’ve pseudo conceded and be in no worse position as a 4 seed as they wouldn’t have had home court advantage in the second round either way, as OKC was obviously going to beat the 8 seed
Honestly not playing Kornet in addition to Wemby made sure our interior defense was non existent lol. Jokic in 1st half and Valanciunas against our small ball lineup for the whole 48 mins was free eats. So we made it pretty darn difficult for them to lose.
Fox showing up now though. No more slander!!!
He big brained to get the nuggets v wolves matchup
He out-Foxed everybody.
I’ll see myself out
Yea lol, they were definitely trying to lose. Spurs just had a masterclass game lol. If jokic didn’t play those 20 minutes to qualify for awards then maybe it would’ve worked out for them
Wouldn’t they be play the Rockets then?
Tbf, they were trying to lose that game. Spurs just inexplicably lost that one.
Exactly, Denver easily beats the Rockets and Minnesota easily beats the Lakers. Crazy how that one game cost them round 1
Small correction that they would be playing the Rockets, not the Lakers.
Both easier beats than the Timberwolves
Should not have clicked on your profile
I’m happy I clicked on it.
Based
Yeah, I’m a creator. I also like the Spurs. Funnily enough I live in Colorado but grew up in Texas
Chuck didnt lie LMAOOOO
seen so many Wolves fans wanting Finch fired lmao
Not me. Rotations can be weird but this we’re in the Golden Age lol
Yeah wanting Finch gone is insane to me. This is the best the team has played since the KG years, and this run is lasting longer.
Even better than the KG years. 2 more conference semi finals then Flip made in half the time.
I honestly think his rotations are always spot on.
The only qualms I’ve ever had with him was around not playing youth in the regular season and that the refs seem to get in his head. Otherwise he’s been a pretty fantastic coach.
And a lot of the youth he hasn’t played has shown to not really be that good so perhaps that’s an unfair criticism
It’s been hell on the Wolves subreddit this year but it’s truly not all of us!!
I’ve got my issues with him here and there but acting like he’s holding this team back at all has always been pretty ridiculous.
It’s an anxious fan base. I’d generally call it low bbiq during the regular season. Lots of calling for firing the coach and playing deep bench players big minutes. But we locked in for the playoffs
Honestly imo he’s not that not the best of an X’s and O’s coach but the Wolves have an absolute cocktail of explosive personalities and he knows how to manage it and despite the huge egos on the team they all seem to at least respect him
And they are all idiots
All he did was outshine dumbass Adelman and suddenly people talkin like Finchy is Phil Jackson. 🙄
You’re right Finch is better.
Finch is a great motivator man. this dude coaches.
Adelman is not a head coach. he not built for that.
Nuggets prioritizing Wolves over the Rockets was the worst decision they made this season 😂
They prioritized winning at the end of the season not playing Wolves over Rockets.
Should have definitely been smarter, but this team wasn’t going to make a run anyway if you can’t beat the squad the T-Wolves had to put up.
sure but the wolves started this series full strength and took you 3-1
but didn’t the nuggets TRY and lose that game though by resting everyone but jokic ??
And Jokic only played 18 min or so in the first half. Denver scrubs beat the spurs minus wemby and kornet
The Nuggets tried to lose against the Spurs. Everyone ragged them for it. Now it’s the opposite? Lol
I was told Jokic doesn’t care about individual awards and only cared about winning rings. Funny that him chasing awards by playing that game led to his team getting bounced out of the first round 😂😂
did they? they didnt play any starters besides jokic for 15 minutes and beat the spurs that played their guys except wemby
Even if they didn’t I’d be framing it that way to my players regardless
I think that’s exactly what’s happening here. He’s framing it to use as bulletin board material
Yeah, this is a weird narrative. If Denver had lost intentionally to matchup with the Wolves, then the shit talk is appropriate.
oop🤭
The Nuggets couldn’t lose that game to the Spurs if they tried (they did try, and the Spurs couldn’t win to save their life)
That was the craziest part of this series. All Denver had to do was rest the starters in the last game and let San Antonio dogwalk them… they’ve would’ve drawn Houston and could’ve rested Gordon and got Watson healthy for a second round matchup with OKC while letting Minnesota deal with the injured Lakers before moving on to the Spurs. But Denver chose the hardest path (presumably Minnesota-San Antonio-OKC-East finalist) for no good reason at all and got tossed right out of the playoffs. Nothing about that move made any sense.
Adelman got outcoached
Jokic got outplayed. It’s a different game now so he’s not so effective when they are letting people play a more physical brand of basketball
Talk your shit Coach.
They chose us
(And I’ve never ever ever suggested to hire another coach ever)
Put that on a fucking shirt that goes hard af.
Top seeds in descending order should be able to pick their opponents amongst 5-8. That way teams aren’t “picking” by losing a game or two at the end of the season. It also adds fuel to the playoff series knowing they were picked.
every spurs fan needs to shut up. Let everyone think the nuggets wanted to win that game. definitely no one go back and watch that game.
Imagine choosing to face Jaden McDaniels. History won’t be kind to you.
XD
SHEESH. LOVE THE BEEF.
i mean to be fair the nuggets best player that game was julian strawther i think they tried to lose😂
I genuinely love watching every roster that Finch coaches. They may not be built for regular season but they sure are prepared for playoffs. I still remember having a bag of very mixed feelings as they whipped my Lakers. I sure hope Ant is fine.
But hold up…we honestly saying Denver beats Houston in 5… I dont know man.
Jokic” the traffic cone” is becoming too hard to ignore.
And could the Lakers beat Minny. I still see Minny advancing against Lakers
Minnesota would’ve definitely given LA belt imo
That’s a fucking quote
This is going over grrreeat in the nuggets sub lmao. They wanted an inured wolves team; I think that may have been an oopsie on their part
C
he’s not wrong
the joker is wasted in denver, get rid of murray, braun, and gordon, overpaid and they fall flat when it’s crunch time. if the joker isn’t breaking records with his triple doubles the team can’t win and you can only keep that up for so many seasons.
Kinda wild to just say this out loud. Basically admitting that throwing games was a strategy.
goddamn everybody in minny has something to say to denver.
You sure the Spurs didn’t pick Denver playing Minny?
Cause right now they’re probably pretty happy.
Is this the second time the Nuggets manipulated their playoff matchup and lost. I think I remember them doing something funny so they could play the trail blazers one year and ended up losing. But I’m not sure
The Nuggets fired Mike from Queens for Andre from The League. They deserve it.
Which is why the 1 seed choosing thier opponent idea is stupid
How did this work? How did they choose which team to play?
Man is a spitting image of Jerome Powell
Ngl, I don’t like him saying that. It sounds good on the surface level, very click baity. But once you delve just a bit deeper, it’s really just hot air. I’d rather him play the rivalry angle. Denver did want to lose, the Spurs either lost or also wanted to lose, idk. Furthermore, you play to win the game. I don’t want to hear a coach suggesting that a team should’ve purposely lost a game and that by winning it instead, that that team was ‘disrespecting us’. It just leads to an unethical conversation.
How did the Nuggets choose Minn per Den coach?
Has there ever been a team that won it all by late tanking for their preferred 1st round match up, or even whole side of the bracket? That sort of talk feels way overrated.
However, what isn’t overrated is that dawg and coaching goes way beyond X’s and O’s nerds, coming from an X’s and O’s nerd. McDaniels might just be the worst possible match up for Murray, Braun is either having some sort of yips or got soft when the check got big, and Adelman’s weird tight rotation since Jokic came back, when a lot of bench options had proven themselves useful, making sure they run into the same problems of the last 2 years of having too short a bench, and being way too tired for a physical team, even one with an even bigger injury problem than theirs.
Also, going away from the one thing that made him refreshing over Malone, which was being more flexible with who got to close out games depending on their game form. Simply not built for prime-time.