Timberwolves' Chris Finch and Steve Kerr push NBA to aim flopping calls at offense
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch and the Warriors' Steve Kerr say the NBA's flopping crackdown is hitting defenders when it should target offensive players.
Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch says the NBA has pointed its flopping crackdown the wrong way. Before Wednesday's game in Minneapolis, Finch and Golden State's Steve Kerr both said the league should change how it calls this season's flopping point of emphasis, ESPN's Anthony Slater reported.
The trigger was Tuesday's Lakers-Trail Blazers game. Officials called three flopping technicals in the last six minutes, on Portland's Ja Morant and Toumani Camara and the Lakers' Ziaire Williams. All three came on defense, against players who sold contact while guarding the ball or getting in a cutter's way. Finch said that's the opposite of what people want. "They want the flops on the offense out of the game," he told ESPN. His view is that fans don't care much about a defender who goes down theatrically. What bothers them is a scorer who fakes contact to get free throws he didn't earn.
The Wolves coach has made this argument before. Last season he openly criticized the free throws Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets, and he complained about how Denver's Jamal Murray was officiated in Minnesota's first-round series in April. Kerr has the same complaint about star scorers using tricks to draw fouls. He said the Warriors had sent the league clips after six illegal-screen calls in a loss to Memphis, a game where he believed the Grizzlies flopped on every one of them. Golden State asked the league to clarify what counts as a flop and what counts as an illegal screen. Kerr said the emphasis seems to apply only to certain plays. Officials called 27 flopping technicals in all of last season, according to ESPN.
Finch made his comments in the middle of a hard week for Minnesota. The Associated Press, via ESPN, reported that Anthony Edwards was scheduled for arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Thursday. An MRI had found new damage. President of basketball operations Tim Connelly said the team expects Edwards to come back "good as new," and the timeline will be clearer after the procedure. Edwards had scored a franchise-record 133 points through four games, including 47 in the overtime loss at Cleveland. Donte DiVincenzo is still out after tearing his right Achilles in last spring's playoffs.
What it means for Friday against the Clippers
The Timberwolves are 3-2. They opened with three straight wins: 131-106 at Miami, 115-93 at Orlando and 117-94 at home against Toronto. Then came two close losses, 127-125 at Cleveland and 119-114 to Golden State on Wednesday. The three wins came by a combined 70 points. The two losses came by seven combined.
The Clippers visit Friday, October 30. The game is on NBA League Pass and ClipperVision. It's Minnesota's first full game plan built around Edwards being out. Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr. are the likeliest players to move into the starting backcourt next to LaMelo Ball, and Bones Hyland is expected to play more minutes. Without Edwards, Minnesota will have a harder time getting to the free-throw line, and every whistle will matter more. If officials keep calling flops mostly on defenders, as Finch says they have, Wolves defenders will be most at risk in the late minutes of close games like the last two.
