The Minnesota Timberwolves may have made it to the Western Conference finals last season, but head coach Chris Finch didn't want his guys to grow complacent ahead of this year's run.
Speaking after the team eliminated the Golden State Warriors from round two of the 2025 playoffs on Wednesday night, Finch revealed the special question he posed for his team to motivate them throughout the season, one that harkens back to their journey one year ago: Were you a Western Conference finals team, or were you a team that just happened to make the Western Conference finals?
A bar.
Here are his full comments:
"Every team goes through a lot. Everyone wants to rush the process, everybody wants everything to be great compared to what you've done in the past. All that's kind of irrelevant, really, when you have a new team coming into a season. The challenge we laid down to our guys from day one was quite simple. It was one question: Were you a Western Conference finals team, or were you a team that just happened to make the Western Conference finals?
"And there's only one way to prove that. Go out and do it again. And that was our mission all year. Took a lot of growing pains, but [the] team's come together at the right time and playing its best basketball."
Watch that full quote below:
Coach Finch says he asked his team one question throughout the season:
— NBA (@NBA) May 15, 2025
"Were you a Western Conference Finals team or were you a team that just happened to make the Western Conference Finals?
...and there's only one way to prove that. Go out and do it again." https://t.co/OCzz2KOGrh pic.twitter.com/fDnyt0blNz
Of course, Finch had to bring things full-circle and ask his guys that very question after the WCF ticket had been punched. Take a look at the HC in the locker room after the win:
🔊 "One thing to ask... are you a Western Conference Finals team?"
— NBA (@NBA) May 15, 2025
Chris Finch in the locker room after the Wolves advanced to the WCF for the second-straight season! pic.twitter.com/wele4HEVsk
As Finch mentioned, the Wolves have had themselves a somewhat tumultuous year, after trading away franchise guy Karl Anthony-Towns and adding Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo in October. With the change, it took everyone a minute to get into the swing of things ... but the team turned it around and have now handily defeated two higher-seeded teams in the playoffs.
Whoever they play next round—the Nuggets or OKC—they'll certainly have their work cut out for them. But at least they can head into the battle knowing they were and are, officially, a Western Conference finals team.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chris Finch Used Special Question to Motivate Wolves to Another Conference Final .
