Chris Finch speaks about Julius Randle.
There were a number of reasons why the Minnesota Timberwolves failed to beat the San Antonio Spurs in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
The Spurs were a better team all season and have a game-changing player on both ends of the court that Minnesota, and most teams in the league, don't have an answer for. Donte DiVincenzo missed the entire series after tearing his Achilles in the first round, and Anthony Edwards wasn't 100% after suffering a knee injury in the first round.
On the court, the performances of Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert came under the most scrutiny, as neither player was effective in the series. Gobert had no answer for Wembanyama on either end of the court, while Randle failed to make an impact with Edwards being double teamed and forced to give up the ball.
Chris Finch Speaks About Julius Randle
Appearing on KFAN1003, Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch weighed in on how Randle performed at the end of the season.
"Julius' struggles in the series were my struggles. It's incumbent upon me to find a way to get him going, and I never really could. I thought he did a really good job guarding Wembanyama and playmaking," he said.
Finch noted that there was a game where Randle drove and kicked the ball out 14 times, but the Timberwolves failed to make any shots off the kick outs. "That's not on him, that's on us. He did the right thing."
Finch praised Randle for what he did in the Denver series and for the things he did that didn't show up in the stat sheet.
"I can't stand these overreactions. I don't listen to it," he said.
Defending Julius Randle
Randle and Finch have a good relationship and the coach is protecting his player, and while some criticism has been overboard, there is no denying that Randle wasn't good in the Spurs series.
He averaged 12.8 points while shooting 34% from the field and 19% from three. He had 1.5 assists to three turnovers. While Finch pointed out his 14 drive and kicks in one game, Randle averaged just 4.8 potential assists per game. In the regular season, he averaged 8.6 potential assists.
Randle is viewed as the second best player on the Timberwolves behind Edwards, and they needed him to be better against the Spurs, whether that was creating more opportunities for his teammates, or finding his own offense.
He wasn't, and it's a big reason why the team lost in six games.
