DENVER — The Minnesota Timberwolves lost Game 1 on Saturday. Their coach, Chris Finch, lost the postgame press conference, too.

Jamal Murray went 16-for-16 from the free-throw line in the Nuggets’ 116-105 win to open their first-round series against Minnesota, and the Wolves coach didn’t hide how he felt about it.

“The 16 free throws from Murray is a head-scratcher,” Finch said.

He kept going.

“Yeah, I thought we played really good defense,” Finch expanded. “I thought, on him, a lot of those ones in the second quarter, we were there, we were physical, we were vertical. He initiates the contact, he spills away, and he gets rewarded for it. Jokic does the same thing. We’ve gotta be solid around that. But 16 free throws is a lot.”

So to be clear: Finch is accusing Murray and Nikola Jokic of manufacturing fouls. Of initiating contact and selling it to officials. Of gaming the system.

Here’s every foul Murray drew Saturday, cut up and compiled:

Jamal Murray’s 16 FTA was a hot topic in post-game pressers after G1 in Denver.

Chris Finch referred to them as a “head-scratcher” when asked about what the Wolves needed to do defensively.

Here are all of the fouls the Wolves committed on Murray that led to those free throws. pic.twitter.com/LdkxlstY2G

— Jonah (@Huncho_Jman) April 19, 2026

Watch them. Of the 16 free-throw attempts, all but maybe two are clear, earned fouls, especially in today’s NBA — defenders out of position as Murray drives, hands on his arms in his shooting motion, contact to his lower legs. It might be unusual for Murray in a way given he’s scored 50 points in a game without shooting a free throw and Saturday’s effort was a career-high for makes from the stripe. But these are fouls, Saturday, in the Finals or in November.

“I thought I got fouled on every single one of them,” Murray said. “I don’t know what everybody’s talking about. It’s real fouls.”

Nuggets coach David Adelman backed him quickly into his postgame comments.

“He drew a lot of fouls in that quarter, because he got fouled a lot,” Adelman said.

When asked to expand on Murray’s approach, Adelman pointed to something Finch’s complaints conveniently ignore: Murray earned those trips to the line by attacking high-level defenders in a physical playoff game where effort was rewarded over efficiency.

“Just toughness,” Adelman said. “He’s got a lot of responsibilities with a lot of different people guarding him that are high-level defenders. (Jaden) McDaniels, he works hard. Anthony Edwards is on him. This is a challenge. He just mentally fought through it. There were timely shots that he made — midrange jump shots where they’re on a run. Unbelievable free-throw shooting. Mental toughness.”

Murray finished with 30 points on 7-of-22 shooting. Without those 16 free throws, he has a rough shooting day. With them, he carried Denver through the middle of the game and set the tone for the Nuggets’ comeback from a 12-point first-quarter deficit. That’s what attacking the basket and drawing contact does. That’s what great scoring is sometimes, getting to the line.

“We expected it to be a game like this,” Anthony Edwards said about the calls. “If that’s the case then we wasn’t mentally ready because we knew how it was going to go and they’re gonna get foul calls and we might not get none and that’s okay. We gotta be ready for that and mentally prepared for it to go their way and not go our way and we should be okay with that.”

Minnesota’s best player is already conceding the whistle before Game 2. Good luck to them on constructing a game plan when they’re locked in on assembling excuses.

Finch can call it a head-scratcher. He can imply Murray and Jokic are selling calls. But the film shows the top offense in the NBA earning trip after trip to the line because Minny’s defense in decline could only answer with physicality, not solid play.

Jokic shot one free throw, by the way, on a day his attack was worth 25 points on 19 shots from the field — and one bloody nose.

If Finch wants fewer Murray free throws Monday night, the fix isn’t working the referees from the podium. It’s telling his defenders to start moving their feet when Murray gets into his motion.

Game 2 is Monday night at Ball Arena, with an 8:30 p.m. tip-off.