Chris Finch blasts Wolves for 'unacceptable' second half in win over short-handed Hawks

It was about as ugly of a game you can imagine.

The Minnesota Timberwolves limped their way — literally and figuratively — to a 100-92 victory over the short-handed Atlanta Hawks Monday night at Target Center in Minneapolis. A game that once looked like it would be a blowout was a battle down the stretch, something Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was not at all pleased with postgame.

"That was a totally unacceptable second half of basketball," Finch said. "If we're trying to be a team, we're trying to go where we're trying to go, that's not good enough."

The Hawks (22-24) were without Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson and Larry Nance Jr. Still, they found themselves going toe-to-toe with the Wolves (25-21), who turned it over 18 times and gave up 21 second-chance points.

"We do see it from time to time against short-handed teams," Finch said. "We come out here and we bullsh*t. And it starts with our top guys."

Adding injury to insult was the fact that Nickeil Alexander-Walker exited the game in the fourth quarter after suffering what the Wolves describe as a left lower leg contusion. Alexander-Walker had a significant limp before being helped off the court by teammates. He did not return. Naz Reid briefly exited to the locker room in the fourth quarter, too, appearing to suffer a shoulder injury. Reid, however, returned and closed out the game, finishing with 15 points off the bench.

De'Andre Hunter was the driver for Atlanta, scoring a game-high 35 points off the bench to keep them within punching distance. Anthony Edwards, who scored a team-high 23 points, acknowledged Finch's frustrations about the Wolves' play, but he felt the poor second half was more a case of Minnesota just missing shots. Edwards shot just 6 for 20 in the game.

"I feel like we just missed a bunch of shots," he said. "I don't think it was any — we was up (17) coming out, I couldn't make no open shots. None of us could make any shots. If we'd have made shots when we was up (17), we would have been up 30. ... I don't think it was like we weren't taking it seriously, just couldn't make nothing. And they start making shots and they get on a run, they're an NBA team."

The Hawks may be an NBA team, but it looked like the Wolves were well on their way to blowing them out in the first half. They started the game on a 13-2 run and led by 17 points at the halftime break. But turnovers started to plague them in the third quarter, and they couldn't get back on track in the fourth quarter. It was an all-around ugly came for the Wolves.

Finch made it a point to address the team in the locker room after the game. He has higher expectations for Minnesota.

"That's really why (Finch) was pissed," Edwards said. "Because he was like we came out in the first half with the right intentions, and I guess he felt like we came out in the second half with the wrong intentions. But like I said, I think we just couldn't make shots. He definitely got high expectations for us, I mean, he came in here — he went in on us today."