The Minnesota Timberwolves took down the San Antonio Spurs 114-109 at Target Center on Sunday to tie up the Western Conference Semifinals at 2-2. Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama dominated the headlines during and after Game 4, but not for the reasons he’d have hoped.
Wembanyama elbowed Timberwolves center Naz Reid in the neck with 8:39 left in the second quarter and was ejected. The Frenchman completely lost his cool in that moment, and Reid was asked in his postgame press conference how much the incident impacted him in this game.
“Pain is weakness leaving the body,” Reid said, via the Timberwolves. “That’s it.”
That’s quite the philosophical response. Reid could have potentially gotten seriously hurt on that play. There was some force behind that elbow from Wembanyama, who was slapped with a flagrant 2. This was the first ejection of the 22-year-old’s NBA career, and it was well-deserved.
Reid had crumbled to the floor after getting elbowed, but was able to stay in the game and shoot free throws. On the very next play, though, the 26-year-old got hit hard again when he was setting a screen and briefly came out of the game.
While those would have been more than enough battle scars for a night, there was one more to come. Reid got tangled up with Spurs center Luke Kornet with 9:02 left in the fourth quarter and appeared to suffer an ankle injury. He gingerly walked off to the locker room, but was able to return to the game with 6:17 remaining.
Reid scored four huge points the rest of the way while also dishing out two assists. He finished the night with 15 points (6-12 FG), nine rebounds, four assists, and one steal off the bench.
Reid has scored in double-digits in every game of this series, and Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards spoke glowingly of the big man in this presser.
“I tell Naz all the time if he’s guarding at a high level, we’re a hard team to beat,” Edwards said. “But it’s not just his defense, it’s his offense. His three-ball wasn’t falling today, and I told him, ‘Play off the catch. They going to run you off the line just ’cause they know you’re a great shooter.’ And find other players, find your teammates, get to the rim, crash the offensive glass, and he did all that.
“He had a big-time rebound at the end of the game to kind of seal the game,” Edwards continued. “And yeah, he just been playing hard for us this entire time, man. He dive on the floor. He do all the little things that other people don’t want to do. So yeah, he know I love him. That’s my brother.”
It would be hard not to love Reid, who went undrafted in 2019, as a teammate. The 2024 Sixth Man of the Year will always give his all out there on the court.
The Spurs, though, aren’t Reid and that Timberwolves frontcourt’s biggest fans at the moment. They have been extremely physical with Wembanyama, which is presumably why he lashed out with that elbow.
Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson was glad Wembanyama took matters into his own hands. Johnson made it clear that elbowing Reid wasn’t right, but he feels the two-time All-Star has to protect himself. The Spurs feel teams are being too physical with Wembanyama, and the referees aren’t protecting him at all.
There has been some talk about Wembanyama potentially being suspended for Game 5 for elbowing Reid, but Johnson doesn’t believe any more punishment is warranted. It will be interesting to see whether the NBA does take action.
Game 5 tips off at Frost Bank Center on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
