San Antonio Spurs Coach Blames the Refs After Victor Wembanyama Ejection: ‘He’s Gonna Have to Protect Himself’

Mitch Johnson

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San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson defended star center Victor Wembanyama after he was ejected for intentionally elbowing an opponent in the head Sunday.

In the second quarter of the Spurs’ playoff game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wembanyama grabbed a rebound over Timberwolves forward Naz Reid.

As Wembanyama came down with the ball, his head snapped back as if someone had hit him. A replay of the sequence showed he may have been hit in the head by Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels. McDaniels was also grabbing his left arm.

Once Wembanyama was upright, he threw his elbow to his right and connected squarely with Reid, who fell to the ground.

Once the play was reviewed by the referees, Wembanyama was given a flagrant 2 and ejected from the game.

The Timberwolves went on to win the game 114-109, tying the series at 2-2.

After the game, Johnson accused the refs of allowing the Timberwolves to be excessively physical with Wembanyama, suggesting the 22-year-old simply had enough when he elbowed Reid. Johnson said:

I just think that the amount of physicality that people play with him- at some level, you have to protect yourself. Every single play on every single part of the floor, people are trying to impose their physicality on him. I get it. We get it. That’s part of the game. But at some stage, he’s gotten chucked, he’s gotten pushed down in transition, running freely, all the stuff. He doesn’t complain one time. We don’t complain because we’re just gonna play. We don’t really give a sh*t — excuse my language — but at some stage, he should be protected. And if not, he’s gonna have to protect himself and unfortunately, stuff like that happens.

Some believed the foul could have also resulted in a suspension for Game 5. At the time of writing, the league had not yet announced additional disciplinary action.