One of the oddest aspects of the Minnesota Timberwolves' fantastic 2023-24 season occurred at the tail end of their first round playoff series victory over the Phoenix Suns. I am referring, of course, to the bizarre injury to Chris Finch that sidelined him for the remainder of the playoffs.
In the closing moments of the Timberwolves' Game 4 victory over the Suns, Mike Conley went barreling toward the sideline and ended up running into Finch, hitting his coach in the leg and rupturing his patellar tendon. In fact, Finch appeared to actually step in front of Conley deliberately, putting himself in harm's way to try to help his point guard avoid injury.
Obviously player injuries are relatively common in basketball, but a significant injury like this to a team's head coach is basically unheard of. It was an extremely unusual scenario, and the incident caused Finch to be relegated to coaching from behind the bench for the remainder of Minnesota's playoff run, leaving assistant coach Micah Nori to step in as the main voice on the sidelines.
Nori clearly did an excellent job stepping in, as the Timberwolves overcame this setback to defeat the defending champion Nuggets in the second round. But fans were left wondering how things might have been different in the Western Conference Finals had Finch been in his usual spot.
RT if you smiled. 😃 pic.twitter.com/lkRJ3qdkr5
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) September 10, 2024
Chris Finch is out of his leg brace
For the last several months, everyone has of course been hoping for a full recovery from Finch. At 54 years old, the expectation was that his recovery process would be a bit more lengthy than that of a 20 or 30-something year-old player. This week, photos were released that showed a promising update on Chris' situation.
On Tuesday, the Timberwolves' official account on X posted two photos of Anthony Edwards and Finch smiling and greeting each other at the team's practice facility. In the photos, Chris does not appear to be sporting a leg brace or any other type of supporting equipment to assist him.
This is as substantial an update as we have received on Finch's injury to this point. We do not know for sure if he has made a full recovery, but the clear lack of a leg brace is a big step in the right direction. Fans in Minnesota can breathe a sigh of relief that their coach appears to be doing fine now, and all signs indicate him being ready to be on the sideline at the start of the season in October.