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Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch gave his team an unvarnished view of what he saw in their Game 1 loss in Western Conference finals loss to the Dallas Mavericks in a film session on Thursday.
“It was a rough film session,” Finch said, matter of fact. “I told the guys, ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been this disappointed in your effort. Your performance, your attitude, your application and attention to detail just wasn’t there.’ The Western Conference finals started. Not sure if they got the memo. But they got it this afternoon.”
The Wolves lost 108-105 in Game 1 and were outrebounded 48-40 and dominated in points in the paint, 62-38.
“We’re the No. 1 defensive team in the league so the amount of points we allowed, 108, is too much for that team,” Wolves backup big man Naz Reid said Thursday. “I just think we didn’t bring it defensively. I think that’s pretty much what it is. Sixty points in the paint, 40 of them in the first half that’s just simple.”
Finch also brought up the fact that his team might have lost its focus in the days between its Game 7 win over the Denver Nuggets in the second round and the start of the Mavs series, much the way it came out flat in Game 3 of the Nuggets series following a three-day break that followed going up 2-0 in Denver.
“I said to our guys, ‘We’re 3-3 at home, and we’ve had two kind of similar performances coming off stints of success,'” Finch said. “There’s a lot of ways immaturity kind of rears its head, and this might be one of them. But they’ve got our attention now, so there’s no reason for us to be feeling ourselves.”
“The Western Conference finals started. Not sure if they got the memo. But they got it this afternoon.”
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch
A Timberwolves source told ESPN it was about as fired up as he’s ever seen Finch. But the source added that Finch’s message was only meant to up his team’s urgency by stressing how rare of an opportunity it can be to make it to a conference finals, so they all owe it to themselves to capitalize on it.
Wolves forward Kyle Anderson, when asked about some of his teammates saying they were tired after Game 1, refused to accept that as an excuse moving forward.
“Fatigue can’t be a factor at this point of the season,” Anderson said. “I think after the film session we had in losing Game 1, we’ll have a lot more energy and juice in Game 2.”
The Mavs are now 5-2 on the road this postseason.
“I’m sure we’ll come out and play better,” Finch said. “It’s hard to imagine that we’re going to play much worse. But there’s lots of things that I’m sure Dallas is going to look to adjust to as well, so every one of these games has a personality of its own.”