DENVER — Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch had to come up with two game plans for the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets: one for the opponent and one for himself.
Six days after Finch suffered a ruptured patellar tendon in a collision with Mike Conley in Game 4 of the Timberwolves’ first-round series against the Phoenix Suns, and three days after undergoing surgery to repair his knee Right, the 54-year-old Old spoke to reporters before the first game against the Nuggets and detailed the game strategy that will allow him to continue leading his team.
Finch, who returned to Minnesota’s practice Thursday, will sit in the second row with his coaching staff while assistant coach Micah Nori handles all on-court communications with Timberwolves players and referees.
“The interaction and flow of the game will largely be handled by Micah,” Finch said. “Obviously, I’m not able to get up, call timeouts, interact with the players, you know, that type of thing. But being there with the coaches and with the players in the groups, it will be the same thing.
No one can blame Finch for not wanting to miss any of this historic Timberwolves action. Minnesota’s win over Phoenix was the organization’s first playoff victory in two decades, and this series against the defending champion Nuggets should be a very competitive matchup against a team the Timberwolves know very well. Denver beat Minnesota in five games in the first round last season, but the Timberwolves have since become one of the fastest-growing teams in the NBA. And Finch, who is in his fourth season as Minnesota’s coach, will be able to make an impact from the start.
“Yeah, I feel pretty good, all things considered,” he said. “The plan was to try to be here throughout, just see how I felt day to day and kind of figure out how it could work logistically being on the bench with the other coaches.
“They really wanted me to rest, and I tried to do that. But I also wanted to be here. And you know, if I could be here in any capacity, that was the most important thing to me.
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