Timberwolves' Chris Finch makes honest admission on Anthony Edwards' struggles
The post Timberwolves' Chris Finch makes honest admission on Anthony Edwards' struggles appeared first on ClutchPoints.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are headed home after a blowout 124-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Wednesday night. For the second straight season, Chris Finch and company have been eliminated at the same stage of the playoffs and now head into a long offseason after falling short of their goal.
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One of the big storylines throughout the series was the struggles of Anthony Edwards against this elite Thunder defense. That continued into Game 5, where the All-NBA selection scored just 19 points on 7-for-18 shooting and 1-for-7 from beyond the arc.
After the game, Finch didn't hold back on his star player and talked about what he has to do better against a team like Oklahoma City.
'Obviously he's got to learn to play against that physicality and that type of holding all the time,' Finch said. 'I think they made it really hard for him. I thought for a lot of the series he did make the right play. We preach that to him all the time. We need him to be aggressive for sure. He's gotta find some easier buckets, I've gotta help him do that. I think we were never able to establish something consistent with him and that's on us as much as anybody.'
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Game 5 was the third game of the series where Edwards was held under 20 points, which is a very uncharacteristic outcome for a player of his caliber. However, the Thunder have a deep group of elite defenders that they consistently threw at Edwards, making his life very difficult from start to finish in this series.
In part because of those struggles, the Timberwolves were never able to be competitive in this matchup away from home. Games 1, 2 and 5 in Oklahoma City were all blowouts, and the closeout game on Wednesday night was not competitive from start to finish.
Edwards is still young and ascending, but this is now two consecutive Western Conference Finals series where he has failed to meet his lofty expectations. That will certainly serve as a point of motivation for him heading into next season.
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