Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch credited his team’s defensive effort and praised Jonathan Kuminga’s development after a 117-94 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
The Timberwolves improved to 3-0, winning their first three games by 25, 22 and 23 points. Minnesota held Toronto to 38% shooting from the field and 26% from three-point range, with Scottie Barnes going 0-for-12.
Finch highlighted the team’s perimeter defense and Rudy Gobert’s presence inside as key factors in limiting the Raptors’ offense.
“Our ball contain continues to be strong. Our fly around is really good,” Finch said. “Rudy’s doing a good job down there, kind of stuffing up the paint a little bit.”
Although Toronto attempted 38 three-pointers, Finch was pleased with how Minnesota challenged those shots.
“They got up a good number of threes, but we did a good job of really getting out and contesting a lot of them,” he said.
Barnes endured a difficult night, missing all 12 of his field-goal attempts. Finch credited the Timberwolves’ collective defensive effort, singling out Kuminga, Jaden McDaniels and Terrence Shannon Jr. for their work against the Toronto forward.
“Great defense by all those guys that took the matchup. He’s a heck of a player,” Finch said. “I think JK started it. Jaden was on him a bit. Trey, I thought he did a really good job on him. Just kind of not letting him get to his spots.”
Finch also praised Kuminga, who scored 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting, grabbed four rebounds and made three three-pointers in 26 minutes. The coach said the forward has embraced the responsibilities Minnesota expects from him.
“He’s doing everything we asked him to do, or everything he said he wanted to do when he came here about guarding, rebounding, hustle plays, all that kind of stuff,” Finch said.
The coach added that Kuminga’s willingness to play within the offense has helped him find good scoring opportunities.
“He’s just really letting the ball come to him, and he’s trusting his offense and his teammates,” Finch said. “He’s getting a lot of really good looks because the ball’s really moving and he’s just playing within the flow.”
Finch also discussed LaMelo Ball’s foul trouble. Ball scored 15 points and dished out eight assists in 17 minutes, but his playing time was limited by early fouls.
Finch explained that he wanted to give the guard a chance to find his rhythm without risking an early disqualification.
“He barely played. He wasn’t in a rhythm, and if he was going to add anything to the game, it was going to happen then and there and try to play him into a rhythm,” Finch said. “But I didn’t want to foul out my own guy.”
The Timberwolves will look to extend their unbeaten start when they visit the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.
