MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch gave his team an unvarnished view of what he saw in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals in a film session Thursday.
«It was a rough film session,» Finch said matter-of-factly. «I told the guys, 'It's been a long time since I've been this disappointed in your effort. Your performance, your attitude, your application and attention to detail just wasn't there.' The Western Conference finals started. Not sure if they got the memo. But they got it this afternoon.»
The Wolves lost 108-105 in Game 1. They were outrebounded 48-40 and were dominated 62-38 in points in the paint.
«We're the No. 1 defensive team in the league so the amount of points we allowed, 108, is too much for that team,» Wolves backup big man Naz Reid said Thursday. «I just think we didn't bring it defensively. I think that's pretty much what it is. Sixty points in the paint, 40 of them in the first half, that's just simple.»
Finch also brought up the fact that his team might have lost its focus in the days between its Game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets in the second round and the start of the Mavs series, much the way it came out flat in Game 3 of the Nuggets series following a three-day break that followed going up 2-0 in Denver.
«I said to our guys, 'We're 3-3 at home, and we've had two kind of similar performances coming off stints of success,'» Finch said. «There's a lot of ways immaturity kind of rears its head, and this might be one of them. But they've got our attention now, so there's no reason for us to be feeling ourselves.»
A Timberwolves source told ESPN it was about as fired up as he has ever seen Finch. But the source added that Finch's message was
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