Minnesota Timberwolves star Naz Reid took a brutal elbow from the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.
While battling for a rebound, Wembanyama swung his elbow near Reid's chin and throat area. The official assessed the Spurs star with a Flagrant 2 foul, leading to his automatic ejection.
Despite the hard contact, Reid stayed in the game and finished with 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists in 31 minutes. The Timberwolves star shut down any injury concerns while talking about Wemby's elbow in the post-game conference.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body. That's it," Reid said.
At the time of ejection, Wembanyama had played 12 minutes for four points on 2-5 shooting, along with four rebounds and one assist.
The ejection may have changed the game's trajectory as the Timberwolves went on to win the game 114-109.
MORE: San Antonio Spurs Victor Wembanyama ejected for flagrant 2
Spurs HC wants officials to protect Victor Wembanyama
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson has a note for the referees officiating their games.
Johnson wants them to learn that Wembanyama has been battling a lot of physicality and therefore, it is their duty to protect the star player from such hostility.
"The physicality people try to impose on him and the lack of protection is really disappointing," Johnson said. "At some level, it's starting to get actually disgusting, just in terms of when he tries to fight through things and be professional and mature and deal with some of that stuff."
Johnson also said that in the lack of protection, it's understandable if the Spurs star takes matters into his own hands.
"I do think it's getting to a point that if the people who are in charge of controlling the game and protecting the physicality of the game don't do that, at some point he's going to have to protect himself," Johnson said. "We've been asking him to do that for a while."
Wembanyama had a simple outlook towards the physicality he faces, saying it's commonplace in NBA playoffs.
More Spurs news:
- Stephon Castle is confident the San Antonio Spurs can bounce back in Game 5
- Dylan Harper gets a Manu Ginobili-like feat despite the Spurs' Game 4 loss
- The questions surrounding Victor Wembanyama's status in Game 5 vs the Timberwolves
- Why Victor Wembanyama got ejected from Game 4 against the Timberwolves
- How Victor Wembanyama became a fan of Paris Saint-Germain
