Chris Finch Sends Clear Message to Timberwolves' Terrence Shannon Jr.

Despite being out of the rotation for most of this season, Terrence Shannon Jr. has the potential to be a sneaky difference-maker for the Timberwolves as they look to close out the Nuggets in Game 6 on Thursday night. He put up 15 points off the bench in Monday's Game 5 loss, and his scoring punch could be useful for Minnesota without the injured Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo.

But in order for head coach Chris Finch to trust Shannon in a meaningful role where his offense can be impactful, he has to lock in on the defensive end of the floor. After Monday's game, Finch said he thought Shannon's "first shift was full of a lot of game-plan mistakes" defensively, adding that "we've got to clean that up for sure."

On Wednesday, speaking to reporters after practice, Finch was asked to follow up on how they can clean that up with Shannon.

"I don't clean that up," Finch said bluntly. "He cleans it up. ... The only way I can clean it up is to sit him on the bench. That's the only way I can clean it up. He knows what we need from him right now. He's gotta be ready to execute defensively. There's no reason that he shouldn't be a good defender with his body type, his athleticism, and he's a pretty smart player."

That's a clear message from the Wolves' head coach to his second-year guard. There's no more teaching to be done — it's all about effort and execution from Shannon on defense.

"Starts with, gotta be ready," Finch said. "He's gotta be engaged, he's gotta be fully committed to that side of the ball. One thing he has done, he doesn't foul. He was fouling a lot early (in the season), that was really hurting him."

All TJ Shannon involved defensive possessions from his first stint in G5. https://t.co/t4VcSwYUWe pic.twitter.com/hTrhYoCuUJ
— Jonah (@Huncho_Jman) April 29, 2026

It'll be interesting to see what Finch's bench usage looks like on Thursday. Naz Reid is their top bench player behind the starting lineup of Mike Conley, Ayo Dosunmu, Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, and Rudy Gobert. Kyle Anderson and Bones Hyland will also play, assuming Hyland — who is listed as questionable with a knee injury — is available.

Beyond those eight, how often will Finch go to Shannon and/or Jaylen Clark? If Hyland doesn't play, those two will become even more important. Shannon is an offensive guy who can be a liability on defense and Clark is a defensive guy who can be a liability on offense, which can lead to some difficult decisions.

"We oftentimes get stuck having to choose, situationally, whether we want to play TJ or Jaylen," Finch said. "TJ's offense has been really helping us when we've been down on numbers, so we've gone that direction."

Overall, Finch was glad the Wolves, with two days off between games, were able to watch film and practice on Wednesday. "Film was revealing today for the guys," he said. "I think they understood what happened and what we needed to do."

Minnesota seems to have two big focuses heading into Game 6. One is to take care of the ball after losing a whopping 25 turnovers in Game 5. The other is to get back to their defensive identity.

"There's no doubt that we miss Donte and Ant and all the things they do, offensive and defensively," Finch said. "But we played a large part of Game 4 without those guys. We still have really good defenders elsewhere. I didn't like our attack mindset the other day, thought we kind of waited on our heels a little bit too much. We just gotta be better, getting back to what we know worked for us."

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