But it is an oval, not a round ball, he is chasing, and the former Junior Tall Blacks captain sees his future in the 15-man game.
Finch (23), who also trained with the New Zealand Breakers in 2006-07, will play for the Alhambra-Union premier side in the premier club final at Carisbrook this afternoon.
Finch had played with the Otago Nuggets for the past four seasons but wanted a change.
"I suppose you could say I became a bit frustrated and stale with how things were going with basketball.
So I thought about doing something else," he said.
"With all the travel involved in basketball and pretty busy with my studies, I thought I'd give rugby a crack."
He had only ever previously played one half of rugby, and that was a social game when at school.
"I didn't know too much about the game when I went along.
I've always been playing basketball at the same time there had been the chance to play rugby."
He was set to play in the premier 2 grade for Alhambra-Union but a serious knee injury to premier lock Mike Patillo resulted in Finch's promotion to the premier side's locking ranks where he has stayed.
He said there were a lot of differences between the two sports.
"You think you know the game quite well from watching it on television but there are all these subtleties to the game.
"But all the guys have helped me a lot. I've had some extra coaching from Mike [Moeahu, Alhambra-Union premier coach] which has helped me a lot."
He said the body hurt more from rugby, although he has not suffered any injuries so far this season.
His job on the paddock was to win line-out ball, and his 2.01m frame helped in that regard.
"The fitness is totally different. I had a pretty good aerobic base from basketball and I was thinking halfway through my first game 'this is all right'.
"But by the end of the game, I was knackered."
Finch said he doubted he would go back to basketball, and saw his future in rugby, eyeing another season next year.
That will hopefully be his final year at the University of Otago where he is studying law and politics.
A forward also on the basketball court, he has played the odd game this season, when time allowed, and turned out for the Southland side in the Conference Basketball League.
As for this afternoon, he said the side had treated the week like any other, but knew the importance of the match.
