Timberwolves react to Victor Wembanyama non-suspension

The Minnesota Timberwolves took Game 4 of their second round series against the San Antonio Spurs and tied the series at 2-2. Victor Wembanyama got himself in hot water with his flagrant foul penalty two and his ejection from Game 4, setting the stage for a Wolves comeback victory.

Wembanyama was kicked out of Game 4 after elbowing Naz Reid in the neck, with Zach Zarba detailing what led to his ejection.

“After review, there is wind-up, impact, and follow-through above the neck of an opponent,” Zarba said. “It is unnecessary and excessive contact by Wembanyama. It meets all the criteria and has been upgraded to a flagrant foul penalty two.”

Wembanyama avoided a suspension by the NBA, which came as a bit of a surprise given the aggressive nature of the elbow, but will be great for the series given how entertaining it’s been thus far.

During the Timberwolves morning shoot-around, guard Mike Conley spoke about the decision not to suspend Wembanyama

“Honestly, I don’t think we even thought about it much at all,” Conley said on Tuesday. “I think once the ruling came down, it was just like we expected that and just moved forward. It’s one of the things, and we don’t want guys in this game. We wanna play against the best. We don’t wanna have to have guys missing games or stuff like that. So we’re gonna be ready for the team, the best team they put out there. You’ve been in so many playoffs here, it’s oftentimes a foul situation like that changes. The tenor can change the referee and can just change the atmosphere of a series.”

“We seem to be in the middle of a lot of those series where it gets real physical, chippy, and game by game, it changes. Just depending on who you have as a crew dictates how physical you can be. And we have to be smart with that. We have to use that experience. And with just one of those games where it’s gonna be called tighter, you gotta play with that physicality. It can’t be two games ago, it can’t be last game. We have to be ready for what’s called the night. And I think we’ve handled that well the last two series.”

Game 5 of Spurs-Timberwolves is set to tip off at 5PM PST on NBC and Peacock.