Timberwolves coach Chris Finch calls referee Tony Brothers after his team’s Game 3 loss to the Spurs.
Finch called Brother’s conduct on the court “completely unprofessional.”
The brothers, the veteran NBA referee and Finch had a heated exchange during the timeout.
Minnesota Timberwolves coach Finch as players and staff separated them, while Anthony Edwards led Finch away.
After the two collided, a reporter questioned Finch, saying, “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen players stop a referee in front of their head coach before…”, to which Finch responded, “Pretty unprofessional, huh?”
He then launched a verbal attack against Brothers.
Finch explained that he was upset by what he perceived as an intentional delay in granting a timeout.
“I wanted the timeout. I had called it 3 seconds earlier and I wanted the timeout,” Finch said.
“I said ‘I want my 3 seconds back’… because he heard me clearly. He looked in my direction, ignored me, continued with the play… it almost cost us a turnover.
“Then, you know, he lost control.”
“Then I went to ask him where he was going to receive the ball and he yelled at me for that. So it was completely unprofessional behavior on his part.”
On the other hand, in a postgame interview, Edwards downplayed the incident after the game, saying it’s all part of “competition at the highest level.”
“We want to win. Finchy wants to win. Tony Brothers is Tony Brothers, we all love him, so everything is good here,” Edwards added.
Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards scored 32 points, but Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama scored 39 to lead the team to a 115-108 win with a 2-1 series lead.
The fourth game of the NBA Western Conference playoffs will be played tomorrow, Sunday, May 10, 2026 in Minneapolis.
