San Antonio Spurs coach Mitch Johnson had some strong words for the officials after superstar Victor Wembanyama was ejected in Sunday’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Early in the second quarter of Sunday’s Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, Wembanyama was ejected from the game after throwing an elbow at the jaw of Timberwolves forward Naz Reid early in the second quarter. With Wembanyama out of the lineup, the Spurs ultimately fell to the Timberwolves by a score of 114 to 109.
The incident happened when Reid swarmed Wembanyama defensively after he secured a rebound. Wembanyama responded by swinging an elbow that struck Reid in the face. Wembanyama was initially whistled for an offensive foul immediately after striking Reid. After a video review, however, the foul was upgraded to a flagrant 2 for excessive contact above the neck, which triggers an automatic ejection.
While Johnson did not exactly condone Wembanyama’s actions that ultimately led to the ejection, he had some strong words for the officials as he praised Wembanyama for protecting himself from the physical play and called it “disgusting” that the officials allowed him to deal with such physicality without any protection.
“Just the amount of physicality that people play with him, at some level, you have to protect yourself,” Johnson said of Wembanyama after the loss via ESPN. “Every single play on every single part of the floor, people are trying to impose their physicality on you. He’s gotten pushed down in transition, running freely. We don’t complain because we’re just going to play. We don’t really give a [expletive]. But at some stage, he should be protected. If not, he’s going to have to protect himself, and unfortunately, stuff like that happens.
“It’s starting to get disgusting in terms of when he tries to fight through things, be professional and mature and deal with some of that stuff. I’m glad he took matters into his own hands. Not in terms of hitting Naz Reid, but he’s going to have to protect himself if they’re not. And I think it’s disgusting.”
A flagrant foul 2 carries a minimum fine of $2,000 and is reviewed by the league office for possible additional discipline, but Johnson does not think that the situation merits any more punishment. He said any additional punishment would be “ridiculous.”
“They did what they did because of the outcome of the play,” Johnson said. “So be it. But to have anything on top of that I think would be ridiculous.”
About Dave Kelsey
Contributing author to The Comeback.