Timberwolves Chris Finch told his team that he was giving Joe Ingles his first start of the season, even though this was a “must-win game.” As the players looked around at each other, he told them why.
He told them how Ingles’ 8-year-old son, Jacob, has autism, and how he had never been able to sit through the sensory overload of an NBA game from start to finish.
He told them that on Sunday, for the first time ever, Jacob was able to watch the entire game, an incredible breakthrough for him and the family that has fought so hard for him.
When Finch got word of Jacob’s milestone, he became determined to make sure that the boy got to see his dad on the court this time. Not only did Finch plan to play Ingles against the Pelicans, he told his team that he planned to put him in the starting lineup.
The entire team started clapping and cheering, a response so emphatic that the cement block walls that separate the locker room from the arena hallway couldn’t contain the noise. A team that ...