Spurs' Victor Wembanyama ejected for elbowing Naz Reid in Game 4
- Victor Wembanyama was ejected early in the second quarter of Game 4 after a Flagrant 2 elbow to Naz Reid, and Minnesota tied the series. - The Timberwolves won 114-109 in Minneapolis behind 36 points from Anthony Edwards after Wembanyama exited with 8:39 left in the half. - The big immediate twist: Wembanyama’s first career ejection won’t bring a suspension, so he’s available for Game 5.
Playoff basketball got weird fast in Minneapolis. Victor Wembanyama — the Spurs’ biggest matchup advantage in this series — got tossed in the second quarter of Game 4 after catching Naz Reid high with an elbow. Minnesota then closed out a 114-109 win, tied the West semifinal 2-2, and turned one ugly sequence into the swing point of the night. ### What exactly happened? The play came with 8:39 left in the second quarter. Wembanyama was fighting for rebounding position, got tangled with multiple Timberwolves, and then swung his right elbow into Reid in the head-and-neck area. Officials reviewed it and upgraded the foul to Flagrant 2, which means automatic ejection. It was the first ejection of Wembanyama’s NBA career. (nba.com) ### Why was it ruled that harshly? Because Flagrant 2 is about unnecessary and excessive contact, and this one looked bad on replay. The elbow wasn’t some routine playoff bump — it landed cleanly on Reid’s chin/throat area while both bigs were wrestling for space. In a regular-season game that would be serious. In a second-round game with tempers already high, refs were never going to let it slide. (msn.com) ### Did it decide the game? Not by itself, but it changed the geometry of the whole night. San Antonio lost its rim protection, its bailout scorer, and the one player Minnesota has to scheme around on every possession. The Spurs still hung around, which matters, but the Wolves were able to play into space more comfortably and lean on Anthony Edwards late. Edwards finished with 36, and Minnesota escaped with the five-point win. (abcnews.com) ### How did the Spurs react? The Spurs didn’t really use the ejection as a public excuse. But the frustration was obvious. One thread running through the postgame was that San Antonio feels Wembanyama gets mauled without enough whistles, and that the buildup from that physical treatment boiled over here. That doesn’t excuse the elbow — it just explains why the Spurs see the play as part of a bigger officiating fight inside the series. (sports.yahoo.com) ### Is he getting suspended too? No — and that’s the part that matters most going forward. The league is not adding extra punishment, so Wembanyama is not facing a suspension or fine beyond the in-game ejection. Basically, the NBA treated the Flagrant 2 and automatic toss as enough. That keeps Game 5 from becoming an even bigger crisis for San Antonio. (msn.com) ### Why is that a big deal for the series? Because a 2-2 series is now back to best-of-three, and Wembanyama being available changes everything. If the league had added a one-game suspension, Minnesota would have gotten a massive edge right when momentum had flipped. Instead, the Wolves got the Game 4 win and the emotional lift, but not the extra roster advantage. That’s a huge distinction. (cbssports.com) ### What about Naz Reid? Reid stayed in the game, and that matters too. If he had been seriously hurt, the fallout probably would have felt even bigger. Instead, the story shifts from injury aftermath to playoff volatility — one reckless moment, one ejection, one game swung, then straight on to the next one. (sports.yahoo.com) ### Bottom line? The headline is simple: Wembanyama lost control for a moment, Minnesota cashed in, and the series reset. But the bigger truth is narrower — the ejection hurt the Spurs in Game 4, not Game 5. That keeps this from becoming a discipline story and leaves it where it started: a brutal, even series with very little margin. (sports.yahoo.com) (abcnews.com)
