Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch is back with his team following knee surgery and will be coaching in the team’s Western Conference semifinal series against the Denver Nuggets. He just will not be doing it the way he is used to.
Finch spoke to the media Saturday before Game 1 and revealed how he plans to handle coaching despite his limited mobility. He said he feels “pretty good,” but will lean heavily on assistant coach Micah Nori to conduct huddles and move around to speak to players.
Chris Finch says he will coach on the bench tonight but assistant coach Micah Nori will be leaned on to run huddles and move around to communicate with players pic.twitter.com/afolmZYv5r
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 4, 2024
“The game interaction and the game flow will be largely done by Micah,” Finch said. “Obviously, I’m not in a position to be able to get up, call timeouts, interact with the players. Being right there with the coaches and with the players in the huddles, that stuff will be the same.”
In other words, things may look a bit different, but Finch does not expect there to be any issues adjusting. Nori has been Finch’s lead assistant since Finch arrived and already had a good amount of input, so that will not be too unfamiliar for players either.
Finch certainly appears to be in good spirits despite his freak knee injury. He’ll feel even better if Minnesota can steal a game in Denver.
