From the season’s outset, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Minnesota would leave itself the flexibility to close games with whatever lineup the coaching staff felt was needed to secure a victory.
Sometimes, he noted, he’d get the choice right. Surely, there would be other times when he wouldn’t.
“Hopefully, I do way more than I don’t,” Finch said this week.
Sunday evening, however, was a checkmark in the “not right” column, at least based off the result.
The Timberwolves didn’t score in the final 4:47 of their loss to Golden State. Finch said this week that Mike Conley’s inclusion in the closing lineup would’ve added organization to the equation. But he was quick to add that, with the ill-advised shots Anthony Edwards was taking, may not have mattered.
Finch also reiterated what he said after the game, that Nickeil Alexander-Walker was playing “so well,” so he was hesitant to take him off the floor.
“Maybe the other thing I could’ve done was go small,” Finch said, “but we’ve not really done that a ton.”
That was the cry of many Wolves’ followers on social media on Sunday. Minnesota has proven rather inept at late-game offense when Conley isn’t on the floor. But all recognized Alexander-Walker had also earned the opportunity to close. You certainly won’t take Edwards off the floor in those situations, and the Wolves wanted Jaden McDaniels on the floor to guard Steph Curry.
That left Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert as the only options to take off the court in favor of Conley, and that would’ve left Minnesota small. And, as Finch noted, the Wolves simply haven’t gone small this season. Like, at all. None of Naz Reid, Randle or Gobert have played more than 17 minutes this season without another big man next to him.
It’s not something the Wolves practice, either. McDaniels said he’s only repped minutes at the four in practice when one of the bigs have been unavailable.
Still, Finch said it wasn’t that he was “uncomfortable” rolling out a small-ball look Sunday.
“But I worry a lot about rebounding. We struggle to rebound with our bigger lineups, at times. So, I know our smaller lineups have really struggled,” Finch said. “That’s some of the reason not to go small is really rebounding issues. But I think our guys are comfortable playing in all different combinations. But I haven’t really thought about going small, necessarily.”
Indeed, Minnesota is just 12th in the NBA this season in defensive rebounding rate, grabbing 71.3% of opposing missed shots. The glass was especially an issue Sunday, as Golden State grabbed 14 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points. But it’s worth noting many of those came by guards in situations in which size was no factor on the play.
McDaniels said he’s comfortable playing any position, including the power forward slot. And Minnesota certainly has the wing depth to roll out more small ball lineups if the situation ever called for it. There could be a playoff matchup that does just that, though Finch noted it could also go the other direction where the Wolves’ advantage would be to lean bigger.
Versatility rules come April and May.
But the Wolves don’t seem overly urgent to trot out any small-ball looks just to see how they perform at this juncture in the campaign.
“Usually, it’s better with Naz at the four (than me),” McDaniels said.
There is, however, at least one proponent of doing a little experimenting: Conley.
“I think (small ball) kind of promotes a different level of spacing and speed to the game. You’re going to have to rely on guard-guard situations, guard pick and rolls,” Conley said. “Maybe me setting the screen and roll, Just creating different advantages for ourselves, as opposed to our typical offense or typical flow of things. I would love to see it, maybe — see how it works.”
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