An unfortunate incident occurred during the recently concluded Game 4 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Phoenix Suns. With just a few seconds remaining on the clock, and the Timberwolves in the lead, point guard Mike Conley Jr. had the ball in his possession. As he dashed to the court, he collided with Devin Booker and accidentally fell on Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch. The coach went down on the ground, clutching his right knee.

Despite Conley attempting to help Finch up, the coach did not seem to be doing well. He was eventually surrounded by Timberwolves players and other staff members, who helped him to get up and carried him to the locker room. Finch exited with just 1 minute and 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.

In the aftermath of the incident, renowned sports journalist Shams Charania revealed that the coach seems to have developed a torn patellar tendon. The same was later confirmed by the team. Chris Finch did not choose to stay after the matchup concluded and wasn’t even available during the post-game press conference. Instead, assistant coach Micah Nori took over his responsibilities during the remaining 1:41 minutes and for the presser.

“Everybody has their role, everybody has each other’s back,” said Nori. “I know it sounds corny, but it’s just next man up, even with the coaching staff.”

When speaking about the injury, Nori revealed that Finch continues to remain in “good spirits” and that the players are also not deeply affected by the incident.

Thanks to the assistant coach being available to lead the team during the final stage and the continuing resilience of the roster, the Timberwolves continued maintaining their lead. Eventually, they won their fourth consecutive playoff game by a score of 122-116.

Mike Conley Jr. jokes that Chris Finch “started to run away” from him in the aftermath of the Injury

Once the game drew to a close, it was time to interview the MVPs responsible for the win. Amongst them was Mike Conley Jr., who secured a score of 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 assists during the same. A question about Chris Finch was expected to pop up since he was the player who collided with the coach. Fortunately, both the coach and the player seem to have taken the incident in a positive light.

“He didn’t want to see me at first, I walked in and he started to run away” Finch jokingly said before bringing up a wide smile on his face. When discussing the accident, the player revealed how he didn’t even notice the coach and that his full concentration was on handling the ball.

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“So, it was just bad timing” Finch continued. “I told him to sit his a*s down, he shouldn’t be standing up like that, he’s in the way. Prayers are for him, I’m sure he will be fine. We’ll do it for him and we will keep moving”.

The head coach’s availability will be needed now more than ever since the Timberwolves will soon be heading to the next stage of the tournament.