We all saw the incident that unfolded on Thursday evening in Los Angeles. Before the Minnesota Timberwolves ultimately walked away from Crypto.com Arena with a loss, they lost Anthony Edwards in the third quarter after he picked up his second technical foul of the evening. It was his 16th technical of the season, which meant he earned an automatic suspension from the league for Minnesota's next game, which, you guessed it, also ended in a loss for the Wolves.
This is of course an extremely frustrating situation, and it has led to many giving their thoughts on how the Timberwolves could seek to rectify this issue. After all, Edwards is now going to receive a suspension for every other technical he picks up, and Minnesota cannot afford to have their best player sitting on the sidelines down the stretch of the season. One potential solution for this problem came from Kyle Theige, Wolves analyst and frequent guest on The Dane Moore NBA Podcast.
"This is maybe why I sometimes have been like, 'I wish Finch would take more technicals.' I really do believe if Chris Finch had more technicals, Ant would have less," Theige said. He explained that when he attended the game in Phoenix a month ago where Finch got tossed, he noticed a change in the team from before and after the ejection.
Theige: Finch should get fired up so Ant doesn't have to
Theige said that Edwards in particular seemed to go from being mad before Finch's ejection, to simply wanting to respond with better on-court play after the ejection. In short, there was no need for Ant to get fired up and say something to the officials when his coach already accomplished that and lit a fire under his squad in the process.
This would certainly seem to be a better approach than what we're seeing right now. Finch stated after the loss to the Lakers that the coaching staff has been talking to Edwards about this issue, and that Ant knows he has to be better. Well, perhaps one way he could force the issue would be to lean into being a bit more animated during the right moments.
Obviously, Finch can not go out there and start picking up techs or getting himself booted every game. Doing it too often will make it lose its intended effect. But picking his spots well and being more intentional about firing up his team could work if done correctly.