Timberwolves surge away from Phoenix after coach Chris Finch’s morning anger leads to evening ejection

PHOENIX – The last time Timberwolves coach Chris Finch coached a game at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, he didn’t finish the game, after Mike Conley crashed into him and ruptured his patellar tendon in Game 4 of last season’s playoffs.

Finch didn’t finish the game Wednesday night, either, as he earned the first ejection of his NBA head coaching career with 5 minutes, 7 seconds left in the third quarter and his team down two. Anthony Edwards came over to separate Finch from official C.J. Washington, but after that Finch got the reaction he was looking for from his team in a 121-113 win over the Suns. The Wolves clamped down defensively in the second half, held Phoenix to 18 points in the third quarter and led by as many as 16 in the fourth to earn their fourth consecutive win.

Apparently, Finch came into the day hot. His emotion was a carryover from one heck of a film session he had with the team Wednesday.

“He woke up choosing violence,” said Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who had a season high 23 points.

When told of Alexander-Walker’s assessment, Anthony Edwards said: “I think he went to sleep last night with violence on his mind, and you know how you go to sleep with something on your mind and you’re hoping when you wake up — I don’t think his sleep was good enough.

“The way he did us in film today, particularly me, it was a tough day for us.”

Finch was already angry after the Wolves’ lackluster showing in Monday’s win over a depleted Atlanta team. That carried over 36 hours later into the team’s film session Wednesday.

“He was basically telling us, how much do you care about the game?” Edwards said. “We can’t say we care about the game at all with the stuff that we watched.”

Finch is typically candid in these sessions, and he isn’t afraid to get on players, regardless of their status on the team. Edwards has never been spared from Finch’s film clips and sharp tongue that offers blunt critiques. Wednesday’s was at another level, the players said. Nobody escaped Finch’s wrath.

“When he was getting on us, especially to me, as you’re growing up to be a young adult, you always want to think about, ‘Aw, he trying me. I want to say something back. He trying my manhood.’ But when you think about it … I would’ve been a fool in film to say something back,” Edwards said. “He ain’t trying my manhood, because the clips on there, they look bad.

“I definitely felt some type of way about it. I told my best buddy, ‘Finchy got on my butt today, but he was right.’ ”

Edwards responded with 33 points despite an uneven first half that contributed to his seven turnovers. He and the team woke up in the second half following Finch’s ejection.

Finch also received a technical in the first quarter. On the first technical, crew chief Pat Fraher told a pool reporter Finch used “profanity” directed toward one official. On the second technical, Fraher said Finch made “derogatory comments toward all of the officials.” A source who asked not to be identified said Finch referred to the officials as “bozos.”

BOXSCORE: Wolves 121, Suns 113

NBA standings

Finch wasn’t the only person ejected; Jaden McDaniels was also tossed late for sticking his finger in the face of Devin Booker, who scored 28 points but also made five turnovers in the second half as the Wolves defense did a commendable job on him. The Wolves won without center Naz Reid, who missed the game because of a flu-like illness that has affeceted a few players.

Finch didn’t handle postgame media duties afterward; that fell to assistant Micah Nori. Nori also finished the game following Finch’s injury last postseason and was the standing coach on the sidelines the rest of the playoffs.

“I just think that Finchy felt we needed a little bit of a boost, and he was just fighting for our guys,” Nori said.

They heard his message then as they did in the morning.

“It gave us a bunch of energy,” Edwards said. “... They threw him out and we had his back. I definitely had his back. I told him, ‘I got you.’ ”

Their defense carried the second half, and Alexander-Walker caught fire for his best game in a while. He went 5-for-10 from three-point range. Edwards had a few dunks in the fourth quarter, and he was only too happy to remind the Phoenix crowd who eliminated the Suns in last season’s playoffs. Julius Randle had been a steadying force most of the game on offense, and he made the Suns pay when they went small with a 28-point night. When asked if the ejection was the maddest he had ever seen Finch, Randle said, “You should’ve seen him this morning.”

“All day, everybody was getting yelled at,” Alexander-Walker said. “But nah, it was timely, and as you can see, it was the right thing. … So far this season I think every time he’s called us out, we’ve been able to respond.”