Coach Finch Has Stern Advice for Anthony Edwards and Team Complaining About Shai-Gilgeous alexander

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch had an intriguing take for his side after being defeated by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder in Game 1.

Coach Finch Has Stern Advice for Anthony Edwards and Team Complaining About Shai-Gilgeous alexander

Chris Finch and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Image by FirstSportz)

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-88 on Tuesday in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. The Timberwolves fell apart in the second half after dominating 48-44 at the end of the second quarter. Once again, the Thunder star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, dropped in a match-winning performance despite being kept quiet in the first half.

SGA’s ability to draw in fouls has always frustrated the Timberwolves’ HC Chris Finch. Game 1 was no different, as SGA drew in several foul calls from the refs, also annoying the Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards in the process. So much so that he received a technical for frustration towards the referee’s decisions in SGA’s favor. On this front, Finch provided a piece of stern advice to his players after the game.

We talked about that before the series started, um, and we have to be able to kind of put that to the side and get on with the next play mentality.

Chris Finch said in the post-game presser

Talking to the reporters, Timberwolves HC spoke about the challenges of playing against the Thunder, and Shai in particular, after the Timberwolves defeated the Thunder in a February’s regular-season game. Regretfully, Game 1 showed how frustrated Finch was.

20 of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points came in the second half. He also recorded nine assists. After halftime, he made 8 of 14 field goals. This performance adds to SGA’s case of contending for the NBA MVP award alongside the Denver Nuggets star, Nikola Jokic.

In addition, SGA scored 11 points after drawing 14 fouls. Jaden McDaniels, who spent the majority of the game protecting SGA, crucially fouled out. In the first half, McDaniels was very successful in keeping SGA in check, but the Thunder took control of the game once he was given foul trouble.

Thunder HC Mark Daigneault on Chris Finch’s remarks about the refs

Throughout the NBA Playoffs, the Timberwolves’ HC Chris Finch has made several remarks about the referee awarding foul calls against them. He did that against the Golden State Warriors and now against the Thunder as well. However, this did not sit right with the Thunder HC, Mark Daigneault, who directly addressed this in the pre-game conference.

We prepare the team for that games first of all. I said this in the Denver series because it came up there too — teams, players, coaches are going to use the media to try to influence the whistle as a competitive advantage… My mentality on that is it’s the Western Conference Finals. The guys working these games aren’t here for an accident. I don’t think they’re influenced by anything I say or nothing our team says. I don’t think they’re compromised by what anybody else says.

Mark Daigneault said

Against the Thunder, it was not the first time Finch pulled out this stunt. The Timberwolves overcame a 25-point deficit to defeat the Thunder in a thrilling overtime game, 131–128, in their final regular season encounter back in February (as mentioned above). Finch criticized the referees for their alleged golden whistle against the Thunder during a part of his post-game conference, even though his team had won.

Anthony Edwards was left frustrated with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s foul-baiting

Edwards is one of the most expressive players on the Timberwolves roster. Unluckily for him, this nature got the better of him against a player like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, someone who loves to foul-bait teams. He did the same against Edwards and succeeded. So much so that he got a reaction from Ant-Man.

Gilgeous-Alexander was lying on the floor beneath the hoop after he drew a foul on Jaden McDaniels early in the quarter. Edwards was having none of it.

The viral moment was posted by the official NBA on ESPN handle on X:

When the whistle blew, Edwards had the dead ball in his hands and threw it straight toward Gilgeous-Alexander, where it landed dangerously near his groin. Edwards’ ball toss resulted in a technical foul. Edwards’ technical gave SGA a third free throw instead of just two for the personal foul.

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