Timberwolves coach Chris Finch: Warriors are ‘holding, pushing and tackling’ Rudy Gobert

At Timberwolves practice on Wednesday, the team held a film session, typical times of blunt assessments of how the team performed — no sugarcoating, no dancing around the main issues. That was especially true after the Wolves underwhelmed in a 99-88 loss to the Warriors in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series Tuesday at Target Center.

“There was nobody safe in that room today,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said. “ And we needed it.”

Coach Chris Finch said the team “didn’t look at all like ourselves” when asked where the main issues were as he looked back at the tape. That applied to both the minutes Stephen Curry played and when the Warriors star left the game because of a left hamstring strain that will sideline him for at least a week.

The Wolves have to clean up their act if they’re going to win the series, Curry or no Curry.

“The game plan discipline was really poor. I thought just our resiliency was poor. Physicality was also poor,” Finch said. “Yeah, so there was a lot of things that really stood out.”

But while Finch spent a good chunk of his media session Wednesday discussing where his team could be better, his film review and critiques also extended to the referees, specifically how they officiated center Rudy Gobert on the glass.

Finch was asked how the Warriors, despite being an undersized team, are so effective at rebounding (they outrebounded the Wolves 51-41 in Game 1). He replied, “At which end of the floor?” When asked to describe both, he didn’t hold back his thoughts on when Gobert tried to get offensive rebounds.

“They do a lot of fouling, shoving, holding, pushing and tackling Rudy. That’s clear,” Finch said. “We sent a bunch of those clips into the league. In fact, I’m not sure I know another player in the league with Rudy’s pedigree that is allowed to be physically beaten on the way he is. And so we’ve got to address that one way or another.”

Finch then credited the Warriors for their fly-around mentality and for having a high compete level to mix it up on the boards. He revisited the conversation when asked if Gobert just has to fight back if officials are going to let things slide. Finch pointed to one play when Gobert did that, after Brandin Podziemski grabbed Gobert and Gobert threw Podziemski off him, only to get called for a foul.

“We’ll certainly try to take justice into our own hands whenever we can,” Finch said. “I think that’s the nature of a physical sport, but by the same token, my God, you should see some of these clips. They look like pulling guards and linemen out there, just taking shots at Rudy.”

Warriors coach Steve Kerr had his own gripes with the officiating when told of Finch’s comments.

“I was upset the first 10 minutes of the game; it was just like Houston all over again. They were bear-hugging Steph and they could’ve called six fouls,” Kerr told reporters. “... I got my complaints, too. Trust me, we all do.”

Despite the loss, the Wolves have a chance to seize the series because of Curry’s injury, which will keep him out for at least the next three games. But the Wolves don’t always do well when facing shorthanded teams. This quality kept them from attaining a higher seed in the regular season. That’s something they acknowledged ahead of Thursday’s Game 2.

“I know when we play teams without their best player, we kind of struggle sometimes,” Jaden McDaniels said.

Added DiVincenzo: “No matter who is on the court, we have to focus on what we can control, and we know exactly what we can control tomorrow. We have to come out from the jump ball up until the last whistle and be ready to go.”