At the All-Star break, head coach Chris Finch has his team tied for the fifth seed in the daunting Western Conference with a 34-22 record. At first glance, this doesn't seem bad, and it isn't, but there have been several winnable games that have been dropped. Some of this has been simply due to poor player performance, but others have been dropped due to some frustrating coaching blunders.
These problems include both poor late-game management and questionable rotations.
The Timberwolves need a better clutch time structure
Two notable losses that come to mind actually came back-to-back against the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings on November 21 and 24. The Suns game in particular, where the Wolves were up by eight with 51 seconds to go, and somehow found a way to lose, sticks out. These losses were the culmination of poor inbounds plays and a lack of appropriate timeout usage, both of which fall on Chris Finch.
The Wolves have actually been a solid team in the clutch this season, outside of a couple of outlier games. But don't be fooled, this is part because Anthony Edwards has been statistically the best clutch shot maker in the NBA this season.
When Edwards inevitably has off-shooting nights, the offense in clutch time becomes sticky, usually resulting in late-clock hero ball by one of the stars. This isn't a sustainable recipe for winning games, especially in a playoff environment.
Finch needs to be flexible with the bench
In addition to Finch's role in the Wolves' late-game collapses, his rotations have been a clear problem this season.
Specific matchups are going to require certain lineups, and in the second half of the season, Finch needs to use some of this roster's buried talent to his advantage. This team has one seven-footer in its rotation. When matching up with taller teams, implementing a guy like Joan Beringer is a must.
Beringer provides above-the-rim play-finishing and rim protection that this team sorely lacks outside of Rudy Gobert, so when Gobert inevitably gets into foul trouble sometimes, you can't keep going back to the Naz Reid and Julius Randle frontcourt, because we've seen time and time again that that pairing can't compete on defense and on the glass.
Another option would be increasing guys like Bones Hyland and Terrence Shannon Jr.'s minutes. Shannon brings an explosive speed and a true transition threat with chops as a corner three-point shooter, and Hyland provides more on-ball juice and a guy that, when he's hot, can give you 20 points off the bench.
With Mike Conley likely rejoining the team when the time is right, Wolves fans will hope that Finch doesn't revert to his old ways with Conley as well. The addition of Ayo Dosunmu and the resurrection of Hyland should be the end of the road for important Mike Conley minutes.
If Finch can make these adjustments, it could change the course of the Wolves' season.