Timberwolves players laud Chris Finch after he wins All-Star Game coaching role

The Wolves’ victory over Houston on Sunday meant far more than changing the “34″ in their win column to “35.”

The win at Target Center sent Chris Finch and the rest of the Minnesota coaching staff to Indianapolis to lead the Western Conference in the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 18.

“Really, it’s a reflection of our season to date,” Finch said. “It’s everybody doing their job. I know the players were excited coming into the game to be able to give that opportunity to us, so we really appreciate that.”

After Anthony Edwards shouted him out in a postgame interview, Finch was greeted in the locker room by getting drenched with celebratory water by the entire team. Edwards called Finch earning the honor of All-Star coach “the greatest thing of the season” and was happy his coach was getting recognized for his success.

“He coaches his players,” Edwards said. “He’s not like a coach who lets us off the hook or tries to sugarcoat stuff for us. He really coaches hard. He holds everybody accountable, and we need that, starting from the head. He’s the head of the snake.”

The coaches and players held a film session Saturday to review their meltdown Friday in a home loss to Orlando.

Mike Conley and Karl-Anthony Towns said nearly everyone stood up and spoke, letting their voices be heard and taking accountability for their late-game struggles. Conley in particular noted the players’ and coaches’ receptivity to constructive criticism has been a major reason for the team’s success. No one’s personality or ego is too big for the good of the team, and in Saturday’s film session, everyone took responsibility and committed themselves to fixing the larger issues and collectively getting better, he said.

Conley said he appreciates that Finch challenges his team, lets the players know what they need to do to get better every day and doesn’t back down from anything.

“It means a lot,” Conley said. “Hadn’t been a picture-perfect road for us the last month — we’ve played kind of up and down, and you lose sight of accomplishments when you feel like you’re not playing your best. For us to accomplish something tonight, especially for him, for the assistants, all the guys who’ve put in the time, it just means a lot for everybody.”

The Wolves are on pace for their second-best regular-season record.

“What I really love about [Finch] is he’s really honest,” center Rudy Gobert said. “He tells every player what he thinks, what they need to do. He’s not scared of hurting anybody’s feelings, and you need that. If you want to build an accountable locker room and if you want to be on a championship-caliber team, I think it’s really important. And obviously, he’s a great human being. For me, getting to know him, as a person more than anything, makes me want to win for him because I appreciate who he is as a person.”

Finch will get the opportunity to coach some of the top players in the league during All-Star weekend, such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Nikola Jokic. He’ll also be joined by Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns, both of whom are returning to the All-Star Game. That makes Finch, who’s making his first appearance, the rookie.

“We’re going to make him enjoy it,” Towns said. “That’s what me and Ant are going to be there to do, help him understand the moment. [He’s] kind of, in essence, like a first-time All-Star. So we’ll just try to do everything we possibly can to make him realize moments like this are very rare and he should enjoy it to the fullest, no matter what the situations play out to be.”

Finch joked Sunday that he doesn’t expect anything during the All-Star Game to change.

“It’s an incredible honor,” Finch said. “I’m sure it’ll be an amazing experience, and like these guys here, I’m sure those guys won’t listen to what I have to say either. So it’ll be just like any other game.”