Wolves’ Chris Finch Will Coach on Bench for Game 1 vs. Nuggets amid Knee Injury Rehab

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch said he will be able to coach in Game 1 of the second-round series against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

Finch spoke to reporters ahead of Saturday night’s contest and said he is feeling “pretty good” and that he planned to be in attendance after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon suffered in Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns.

“I feel pretty good all things considered,” Finch said, per ESPN’s https://twitter.com/mcten/status/1786871973706146197. “The plan was to try to be here all along. Just see how I felt day by day. And then figure out logistically how it might work on the bench and with the other coaches.”

While he will be on the bench to lead the Wolves, Finch said he will pass some duties to assistant coach Micah Nori.

“The game interaction and the game flow will be largely run by Micah,” Finch said. “Obviously I’m not in a position to be able to get up, call timeouts, interact with the players, that kind of stuff. But being right there with the coaches with the players in the huddle, that stuff will be the same. “

Finch suffered the injury late in Minnesota’s Game 4 win over the Suns after a collision on the sideline with Wolves guard Mike Conley Jr. Finch immediately went down and was in obvious pain before heading to the locker room for the remainder of the game.

After undergoing surgery on Wednesday, Finch managed to lead Minnesota in practice on Thursday while walking around on crutches, per ESPN’s Andrew Lopez.

While things will be different for the Wolves on Saturday with Finch limited to the bench, Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Tim Connelly is confident in Nori as he takes over some of Finch’s duties.

“Micah is going to make a great head coach when some smart team hires him,” Connelly said, per Lopez. “The whole staff is really connected. I think Finch empowers those guys. So it’s a collective, it’s not just about one person. We have next man up with players and it’s the same with coaches.”

Finch, who https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1784714405457928277?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1784714405457928277%7Ctwgr%5Ebeab7003705477509aca53c7fc7e3b40bb8d2a87%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nba.com%2Fnews%2Fcoach-of-the-year-2023-24 in the league’s Coach of the Year voting, led Minnesota to its first 50-win season since 2003-04, which was also the last time it made it to the second round. The Timberwolves have reached the playoffs in each of Finch’s three full seasons as head coach.

The Timberwolves easily handled the Suns in the first round, but now they have a more difficult task against the reigning champions. Denver took the Los Angeles Lakers out in five games and is now looking to advance to the Western Conference Finals for a second straight season.

Game 1 of the best-of-seven series tips off at 7 pm ET on Saturday.