A decision intended to improve the Timberwolves’ slow starts yielded a streak-busting finish on Monday night, a 108-106 comeback victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at Target Center.
Two days after Wolves coach Chris Finch publicly defended sticking with his same starting five, he changed his lineup Monday even though his team had lost six of its past nine games.
Trailing by as much as 19 points in the first half, the Wolves led by nine with fewer than eight minutes left and hung on during the final three frantic seconds.
With the Wolves struggling to start games, Finch took 18-year NBA point guard Mike Conley out of the first five and started reserve guard Donte DiVincenzo alongside Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert.
As recently as Saturday in Detroit, Finch defended being second-guessed on keeping his lineup as is, saying “I don’t think I’m being particularly stubborn.”
By Monday, he changed his mind.
“You know, I just read all the papers,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “Everybody was telling me. I was like, `You know what? I should change the starting lineup.‘”
Finch finally switched it up because he thought DiVincenzo might add more pace to the starting unit, Conley’s play might improve with a fast-playing second unit and it would reunite DiVincenzo and Randle, who played together last season in New York.