San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson was fully in Victor Wembanyama’s corner after the All-Star got ejected from Game 4 on Sunday night.
Wembanyama was disqualified in the second quarter of the Western Conference semifinals contest after hitting Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid with an elbow above the neck area (video here). The Frenchman was assessed a flagrant penalty 2 foul, and had to retreat to the locker room at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn.
Instead of brushing aside Wembanyama’s actions, Johnson spun the blame back to referees for not “protecting” his star center enough. The second-year head coach claimed Wembanyama has had to deal with an excessive level of physicality, which officials fail to assess properly due to Wemby’s physically imposing frame.
“I just think that the amount of physicality that people play with him, at some level, you have to protect yourself,” Johnson said with a disgruntled tone during his postgame press conference. “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. 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, cause we just come to play. We don’t really give a s–t.
“But at some stage, he should be protected. And if not, he’s going to have to protect himself.”
Johnson added that he does not believe there are any grounds for Wembanyama to be suspended for Game 5. He pointed to the incident having “zero intent,” and called the notion of further disciplining Wembanyama “ridiculous” beyond the ejection he served in Game 4.
Wembanyama finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds across 12 minutes of action in San Antonio’s 114-109 loss.
