The Timberwolves coaching staff, empowered by Finch and energized by chemistry, is a true asset

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The Timberwolves coaching staff, empowered by Finch and energized by chemistry, is a true asset

2024-04-19 08:21 Last Updated At：08:31

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With about three minutes left on the pregame warmup clock, the back hallway at Target Center that leads to the arena floor comes alive with the boisterous and motivational sounds of team camaraderie.

The Minnesota Timberwolves convene for a brief cacophony of hollers, shoulder shoves and hand slaps like they're still in high school before walking to the court together. The twist? This human energy drink is concocted by the coaches, not the players.

“Getting revved up!” said 64-year-old assistant coach Elston Turner, wryly smiling through his reflection on the ritual after a recent practice.

With the staff lined up on both sides, head coach Chris Finch walks calmly through the tunnel for fist bumps as the rest of the assistants let loose. Former quality control coach Nathan Bubes, who’s now with the G League affiliate in Iowa, was originally responsible for the ruckus. He'd follow Finch through the good-natured gauntlet while encouraging a friendly-but-firm smack from his colleagues. Bubes' successor, Jeff Newton, has literally elevated the role with leaping body bumps for the other assistants.

“It gives you a moment of a little bit of levity, but also a little bit of getting everybody ready to go,” assistant coach Micah Nori said. “We look forward to it.”

This well-assembled staff has been a welcomed asset for a 35-year-old franchise that hasn't had many of them, one of many strengths the Timberwolves bring to the NBA playoffs this spring as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. Finch is a strong contender for the Coach of the Year award after steering the Timberwolves to a 56-26 record that marked the second-best in club history.

“They’ve been really detailed on what we need to do in order to accomplish things," veteran point guard Mike Conley said. “They put it on the table, and we all know what we need to do.”

Minnesota hosts Phoenix on Saturday in Game 1 of the best-of-seven first-round series.

“We all know we have jobs to do. What I appreciate is the way it is divvied up. We sit in a meeting sometimes, and there’s 15 people in there. I mean, come on now,” said Turner, who previously worked with Finch in Houston. “Everybody has something to do. We talk about it, like in a football huddle, and then we break out and everybody does their part. Finchy doesn’t really look over your shoulder. He hired you for a purpose, and he allows you to do it.”

The Suns, with superstars in Devin Booker and Kevin Durant and a prolific scorer in Bradley Beal, prefer to play small and lean on their shooters. They won all three regular-season matchups with the supersized Wolves, holding a double-digit lead for the entire second half each time, including last Sunday.

With six days to prepare, Finch's crew has been busy this week.

“That’s a lot of fun. It’s a coach’s dream, really. You get a chance to pick it apart,” Finch said. "It feels like a football game.”

Nori is the basketball equivalent of a bench coach in baseball, Finch's confidant who helps keep the entire operation light — and moving. Turner takes the lead on defensive strategy. Pablo Prigioni is essentially the offensive coordinator, directing Finch's free-flowing system. Kevin Hanson, Corliss Williamson, Joe Boylan and a host of others round out the group.

“The chemistry on the staff is really high. It’s at the point where at halftime, a lot of times I don’t even talk to the defensive guys. They kind of know what they need to do. We’ve talked enough through the game. They’ve got their stuff ready to go. I might say one or two things I think needs to be a point of emphasis, and they’ve already got it covered,” Finch said. “Practice, everyone has their domain. I’ve got an immense amount of trust in everything these guys do, and so do the players. It’s probably one of the best and highest-functioning staffs I’ve ever been a part of, which is a credit to those guys.”

Nori, who worked with Finch previously in Denver, has marveled at the absence of paranoia that sometimes seeps into front offices and coaching staffs around the league.

“Finchy understands people. He is not afraid to tell hard truths. He’s very fair," Nori said. "You’ll be on teams where head coaches, if the star player messes up and then they’re yelling at the other guy, are hoping that the star player gets the message he’s really sending in a roundabout way. But Finchy will hit them right between the eyes, and they respect it, and they know it’s coaching, not criticism.”

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Tension grows on UCLA campus as police order dispersal of large pro-Palestinian gathering

2024-05-02 14:46 Last Updated At：15:00

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police in riot gear massed on the UCLA campus and ordered a large group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators inside a fortified encampment to leave the area or face arrest late Wednesday, one night after violence instigated by counter-protesters erupted in the same place.

A small city sprang up inside the barricaded encampment, full of hundreds of people and tents on the campus quad. Some protesters said Muslim prayers as the sun set over the campus, while others chanted “we’re not leaving” or passed out goggles and surgical masks. They wore helmets and headscarves, and discussed the best ways to handle pepper spray or tear gas as someone sang over a megaphone.

A few constructed homemade shields out of plywood in case they clashed with police forming skirmish lines elsewhere on the campus. “For rubber bullets, who wants a shield?" a protester called out.

Meanwhile, a large crowd of students, alumni and neighbors gathered on campus steps outside the tents, sitting as they listened and applauded various speakers and joined in pro-Palestinian chants. A small group of students holding signs and wearing T-shirts in support of Israel and Jewish people demonstrated nearby.

The law enforcement presence and continued warnings stood in contrast to the scene that unfolded the night before, when counter-demonstrators attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, throwing traffic cones, releasing pepper spray and tearing down barriers. Fighting continued for several hours before police stepped in, though no arrests were made. At least 15 protesters suffered injuries, and the tepid response by authorities drew criticism from political leaders as well as Muslim students and advocacy groups.

Ray Wiliani, who lives nearby, said he came to UCLA on Wednesday evening to support the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

“We need to take a stand for it,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

Elsewhere, police in New Hampshire made arrests and took down tents at Dartmouth College and officers in Oregon came onto the campus at Portland State University as school officials sought to end the occupation of the library that started Monday.

The chaotic scenes at UCLA came just hours after New York police burst into a building occupied by anti-war protesters at Columbia University on Tuesday night, breaking up a demonstration that had paralyzed the school.

An Associated Press tally counted at least 38 times since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the U.S. More than 1,600 people have been arrested at 30 schools.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said in a statement that “a group of instigators” perpetrated the previous night's attack, but he did not provide details about the crowd or why the administration and school police did not act sooner.

“However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable,” he said. “It has shaken our campus to its core.”

Block promised a review of the night's events after California Gov. Gavin Newsom denounced the delays.

The head of the University of California system, Michael Drake, ordered an “independent review of the university’s planning, its actions and the response by law enforcement.”

“The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,” Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said in a news conference on the Los Angeles campus later Wednesday, where some Muslim students detailed the overnight events.

Speakers disputed the university’s account that 15 people were injured and one hospitalized, saying the number of people taken to the hospital was higher. One student described needing to go to the hospital after being hit in the head by an object wielded by counter-protesters.

Several students who spoke during the news conference said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for support as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with counter-protesters. UCLA canceled classes Wednesday.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. The ensuing police crackdowns echoed actions decades ago against a much larger protest movement protesting the Vietnam War.

In Madison, a scrum broke out early Wednesday after police with shields removed all but one tent and shoved protesters. Four officers were injured, including a state trooper who was hit in the head with a skateboard, authorities said. Four were charged with battering law enforcement.

This is all playing out in an election year in the U.S., raising questions about whether young voters — who are critical for Democrats — will back President Joe Biden's reelection effort, given his staunch support of Israel.

In rare instances, university officials and protest leaders struck agreements to restrict the disruption to campus life and upcoming commencement ceremonies.

At Brown University in Rhode Island, administrators agreed to consider a vote to divest from Israel in October — apparently the first U.S. college to agree to such a demand.

The nationwide campus demonstrations began at Columbia on April 17 to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which followed Hamas launching a deadly attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took roughly 250 hostages. Vowing to stamp out Hamas, Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

Israel and its supporters have branded the university protests antisemitic, while Israel’s critics say it uses those allegations to silence opposition. Although some protesters have been caught on camera making antisemitic remarks or violent threats, organizers of the protests, some of whom are Jewish, say it is a peaceful movement aimed at defending Palestinian rights and protesting the war.

Meanwhile, protest encampments elsewhere were cleared by the police, resulting in arrests, or closed up voluntarily at schools across the U.S., including The City College of New York, Fordham University in New York, Portland State in Oregon, Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona and Tulane University in New Orleans.

Offenhartz and Frederick reported from New York. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including John Antczak, Christopher L. Keller, Lisa Baumann, Cedar Attanasio, Jonathan Mattise, Stefanie Dazio, Jae C. Hong, Colleen Long, Karen Matthews, Sarah Brumfield, Carolyn Thompson, Philip Marcelo, Corey Williams and Felicia Fonseca.