Timberwolves hope to have Chris Finch in series-opener vs. Nuggets / News - Basketnews.com

The Minnesota Timberwolves are hoping to have head coach Chris Finch within arm's reach in Game 1 against the Denver Nuggets.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves are gearing up to take on the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals.

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The team plans to have head coach Chris Finch with them in Game 1 in Denver.

Finch is coming off a surgical procedure that repaired a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee. He suffered the injury late in Game 4 of the first-round series against the Phoenix Suns.

Assistant coach Micah Nori has been taking the lead since then, but Finch laid out the strategy for the series with the Nuggets before going into surgery.

The team is hoping to have Finch on the bench for Game 1, but if that doesn't work out, the head coach could join the team in the locker room during pregame and halftime meetings.

"In typical Finchy fashion, he's like, 'I don't want to sit there and send text messages to somebody behind the bench,'" Nori said.

The assistant coach, though, said that Finch believes in him and the players to get the job done versus the Nuggets.

"He does not want to be the focus. He trusts all of us. He trusts the players. He's like, 'You guys do yourselves. You've done enough.' The players, at the end of the day, are going to be the ones who decide this series."

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