Did Chris Finch just sacrifice himself to expose OKC's foul imbalance?

Finch's ejection on Friday night sent a message to the league.

Dec 19, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Staff restrains Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch after a referee ejected him for chasing him down on a call for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Did Chris Finch's ejection on Friday night against the Thunder send a message to the NBA? Minnesota's head coach opted to argue with the referees less than midway through the first quarter, which escalated to his ejection from the game.

What if Chris Finch is playing the long game by trying to get the league-wide narrative about Oklahoma City to the point where referees might overcompensate in the playoffs?pic.twitter.com/Fl8kBr4wVv

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) December 20, 2025

The Wolves proceeded to attempt 47 free throws compared to only 30 from Oklahoma City. Reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is routinely among the highest in free-throw attempts in the NBA. In the 2024-25 regular season, SGA attempted 8.8 free throws per game, which trailed only Giannis Antetokounmpo for most in the NBA.

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The Thunder won last year's NBA championship after getting past the Wolves in the Western Conference Finals, so naturally, the general public thinks they get favorable calls. While that's certainly true, the Thunder actually rank 16th in the NBA with only 24.7 free throw attempts per game this season.

Ultimately, the way Oklahoma City is officiated probably will not change after Friday's game, but Finch's ejection sent a message in the short term. Minnesota was only the third team to beat the Thunder this season.

"I'm fu*king with that, that's my dog. I am not happy he got thrown out the game, but... I am fu*king with that," Anthony Edwards said after the game, when asked about the ejection.

Anthony Edwards on Chris Finch’s ejection 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/D7PXNDG9Jq

— SneakerReporter (@SneakerReporter) December 20, 2025

The ejection could've been the perfect spark that the Wolves needed, but they still had to perform. Edwards led the team with 26 points on 9 of 20 shooting from the field, 3 of 6 shooting from three-point range, and 5 of 6 from the free throw line. Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo, Jaden McDaniels, Naz Reid and Bones Hyland all finished the night in double figures.

It was Edwards' 24-foot three-point step-back jumpshot with 38.5 seconds left that gave Minnesota a 108-107 lead.

"I receive a lot of negative criticism because I never go for the tie. I heard Gilbert Arenas not to long ago say I'm trying to go home. I'm going for the game every time," he said in his postgame interview on the Amazon Prime broadcast.

Anthony Edwards:

"I receive a lot of negative criticism because I never go for the tie. I heard Gilbert Arenas not to long ago say I'm trying to go home. I'm going for the game every time"pic.twitter.com/k3JK9BmjaL

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) December 20, 2025

It's one of the oldest tricks in the head coach's playbook to get ejected in order to send a message. Did Finch purposely get riled up to send a message on Friday night? We might never know for sure, but it certainly worked out in Minnesota's favor.