Timberwolves coach Chris Finch called out his star player after Minnesota’s 99-88 loss to the Warriors on Tuesday night.
Finch was clearly irked by what he felt was a lackluster performance from Anthony Edwards.
“What is there to talk about? You’re the leader of the team,” Finch said, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “You’ve got to come out and set the tone. If your shot is not going, you still have to carry the energy. If I’ve got to talk to guys about having the right energy coming into an opening second-round game, then we’re not on the same page.”
Edwards didn’t make a field goal in the first half as Minnesota was held to 31 first-half points. He finished with 23 points on 9-for-23 shooting as the Timberwolves failed to take advantage of Stephen Curry‘s hamstring injury.
“It starts with Ant,” Finch said. “I thought he struggled, and then you could just kind of see the light go out a little bit for a while.”
In an era when two coaches on playoff-bound teams were fired late in the regular season, it’s unusual for a head coach to criticize one of the league’s stars that strongly. However, Finch has plenty of financial security. He signed a four-year extension last summer that carries through the 2027/28 season.
Edwards didn’t strike back at Finch’s comments, seemingly offering a diplomatic response.
“People are going to try to blame whatever, blame whoever; they can blame me,” Edwards said. “[But] we just didn’t play good enough.
“… Tonight, we didn’t shoot the ball well, but tonight is over. So, next game we’ll shoot the ball really well.”
Finch was upset in general with Minnesota’s offensive decision-making, feeling the team didn’t take advantage of Golden State’s 18 turnovers.
“Our transition decision-making was diabolical,” Finch said. “Obviously, we couldn’t hit a shot, but I didn’t like the fact that we couldn’t repeatedly generate good shots. We should’ve been able to.”