Timberwolves still in limbo over who will coach them vs. Nuggets

The Minnesota Timberwolves will be led by a former Denver Nuggets assistant coach when the two teams meet in Round 2 of the NBA Playoffs, the Twin Cities team just doesn’t know who exactly will be the bench boss.

The Timberwolves head coach is Chris Finch, with his key assistant being Micah Nori. The two worked under Michael Malone in Denver and coached some members of the Nuggets current core. Together the two have helped the Wolves advance to the second round for just the second time in franchise history.

But in the process of making that historic step on Sunday, Wolves veteran guard Mike Conley collided with Finch’s knee in the final moments of their close-out game against the Phoenix Suns. Finch had surgery to repair his right patellar tendon. And the earlier stages of that recovery require his leg to be immobilized in a brace, making an NBA sideline a tough proposition for Finch. After Finch went down in Game 4, Nori took over the lead spot on the Wolves bench.

Nori told the media on Wednesday that Finch’s surgery went well but he will likely be joining the Wolves for their flight to Denver on Thursday night. It is expected that Finch will be in Denver for the series-opener on Saturday but the Wolves are still trying to figure out where exactly they’ll place their recovering coach. Finch could be on the sidelines with some musical chairs, be placed in a suite with quick access to the team before the game and at halftime or he may be in the locker room communicating back to the bench.

Either way, it’s a new element for the Wolves they’ll have to deal with as Nori is most certainly going to take on more responsibilities at least for Game 1.

Last year these two Northwest Divison foes met in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, where the Nuggets beat the Wolves in five games. But Denver’s most important win against Minny for this coming bout happened on April 10, when the Nuggets scored a 116-107 win in Game 80 over the Wolves. That victory is what gave 57-win Denver hosting duties for this second-round matchup against 56-win Minnesota.

That game was like many games between these two teams recently though, Karl-Anthony Towns was out. In fact, the lone time these two teams have met in the last two years with their starting fives playing was in Game 5 of the regular season this year, a 110-89 November rout in favor of Minny. The Wolves were not healthy when they met the Nuggets in the first round last year, down both defensive stopper Jaden McDaniels and NBA Sixth Man of the Year Naz Reid.

When we see the Nuggets and Wolves on Saturday, it’ll really be the first time we’re seeing the matchup as it was designed to be. Of course, the architect is Tim Connelly, the man who built the Nuggets and then left to build the Wolves.

It’ll be a star-studded matchup of Nikola Jokic against Anthony Edwards on the floor, but on the benches, Malone will be battling a former disciple—he just doesn’t know who yet. And the coaching connections between these two teams do not stop there. Both Ryan Saunders and David Adelman are the sons of former Minny head coaches with Saunders himself actually having the lead job in the Twin Cities for a time.