Wolves' Finch airs frustration with how Rudy Gobert was officiated in Game 1

Finch said the Timberwolves have submitted several clips to the NBA's league office.

May 6, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch watches as his team plays the Golden State Warriors in the third quarter during game one of the second round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Target Center. | Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch was not pleased with the way Rudy Gobert was officiated in Game 1 of his team's Western Conference semifinals series against the Warriors. He made that very clear when speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, noting that the Wolves sent several clips of uncalled physical play against Gobert to the NBA's league office to review ahead of Game 2.

"On defensive rebounding, they did a lot of fouling, holding, shoving, pushing, and tackling Rudy," Finch said. "That's clear. We sent a bunch of those clips in to the league. In fact, I'm not sure I know another player in the league with Rudy's pedigree that is allowed to be physically beaten on the way he is. We gotta address that, one way or another."

Gobert, who was coming off of a mammoth performance in Minnesota's series-clinching win over the Lakers last week, had 9 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocks on Tuesday night in the 99-88 loss. The Wolves' 7'1" center spent most of the night fighting for positioning on the inside with 6'6" Draymond Green, 6'7" Jimmy Butler, and 6'9" Kevon Looney, among others. As a team, the somewhat undersized Warriors out-rebounded the Wolves 51 to 41, including 18 offensive rebounds on 53 missed shots (34 percent).

Finch went on to say, in essence, that the Wolves will have to up their own levels of physicality if the game isn't going to be officiated differently.

"There was a play last night where (Brandin) Podziemski clearly grabbed (Gobert) and then he sheds Podziemski and then he gets the foul," Finch said. "We'll certainly try to take justice into our own hands, whenever we can. I think that's the nature of a physical sport. But by the same token, my God, you should see some of these clips. They look like pulling guards and linemen (in football) out there just taking shots at Rudy."

Gobert, 32, averaged 10.9 rebounds during the regular season, so Tuesday's performance was right in line with his typical production on the glass. But on a night where the Warriors shot 39 percent from the field, there may have been opportunities for him to record more than seven defensive boards. Finch and his staff clearly felt Golden State got away with quite a bit of illegal contact against Gobert, and it'll be interesting to see if the refs hear his pleas and call things any differently in Game 2 on Thursday.