Souhan: Benching Julius Randle in Game 2 is a big risk for Wolves

For most of the season, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch displayed unwavering faith in Julius Randle.

Finch’s patience led to the Wolves’ brilliant run to the playoffs and two dominant playoff series victories.

On Thursday night in Oklahoma City, Finch acted as if he had never met him.

Finch did not play Randle in the fourth quarter of the Wolves’ 118-103 Game 2 loss. Finch had a justifiable reason. Randle, who was the best player on the court in the first half of Game 1, had a terrible game. But Finch’s decision is the kind that could have far-reaching ramifications.

On Saturday night at Target Center, the Wolves will enter their first must-win since last May not knowing where Randle’s game is. Worse, they won’t know for sure where his head will be.

As well as Randle and Finch handled the awkwardly timed trade that brought Randle to Minnesota, the subtext of Randle’s situation makes Finch’s decision dangerous.

Randle has a player option this summer, meaning he can opt out of his contract and leave. That might have seemed like an enticing eventuality three months ago, but Randle has made himself a popular teammate and valuable player. If he leaves, the Wolves will be looking for another scoring complement for Anthony Edwards, which will mean another season of adaptation.

Of more immediate concern is Randle’s confidence in himself and that Finch believes in him.

After the trade that brought him here on the cusp of training camp, Randle spoke at a news conference and raved about Finch, who had been an assistant coach in New Orleans when the two worked together.

Finch’s relationship with and confidence in Randle made the trade possible.

Finch’s skills as an offensive coach and relationship with Randle made Randle’s late-season surge possible.

Then came Thursday. Randle played 32 minutes, made just 2-of-11 shots and missed all three of his three-point attempts. He had five rebounds, five assists and a steal, but committed four turnovers, scored just six points and had a minus-15 rating.

The Wolves had three players with a minus-15 rating or worse — Edwards (minus-22), Randle and the player who arrived with Randle in the trade, Donte DiVincenzo (minus-27).

Wolves boss Tim Connelly traded Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks for many reasons: to improve the Wolves’ depth, collect a first-round draft pick and clear salary cap space and future spending flexibility.

At the moment, with a chance to win a title on the line, it’s hard to see past Randle and DiVincenzo flopping in the biggest game of the season.

In Game 1, Edwards looked lost. In Game 2, Edwards shot poorly from the three-point line again, missing eight of nine from beyond the arc, but otherwise played well.

In Game 1, Randle kept the Wolves in the game in the first half with brilliant three-point shooting. He has done nothing since.

The Wolves are so frustrated by the Thunder’s harassing defense and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ability to draw fouls that Jaden McDaniels simply shoved Gilgeous-Alexander to the court. In Game 1, Edwards flipped the basketball at Gilgeous-Alexander as he was prone under the basket.

Gilgeous-Alexander has gotten into their heads.

Gilgeous-Alexander was awarded the NBA MVP trophy on Thursday. The voters got it wrong. He had a brilliant season for a powerhouse team and led the league in scoring. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic scored three fewer points per game than Gilgeous-Alexander, but produced eight more rebounds and four more assists per game. Jokic was a far superior three-point shooter and had an effective field-goal percentage of 62.7. Gilgeous-Alexander’s was 56.9. Jokic is the true MVP.

For the Wolves, you could have debated whether Edwards or Randle has been the team MVP since March 1.

If that discussion ever began, it ended last night. Edwards was in the fight, Randle was not, and we can’t yet know whether his benching will damage the Wolves in this series or far into the future.