Timberwolves rally after Victor Wembanyama’s first career ejection to beat Spurs in Game 4, even series
Minnesota, led by 36 from Anthony Edwards, picked up a 114-109 win Sunday in Minneapolis
Ryan YoungStaff writer
Sun, May 10, 2026 at 8:23 PM PDT297
Victor Wembanyama picked up his first career ejection Sunday night.
The Minnesota Timberwolves took full advantage.
After the Spurs lost their star player early on, Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves rallied in the fourth quarter to beat San Antonio 114-109 in Game 4 on Sunday at the Target Center. That tied the series 2-2 ahead of a critical Game 5 on Tuesday night.
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Edwards had 36 points in the win, 16 of which came in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve got to capitalize when Wemby got [thrown] of the game,” Edwards said on NBC. “We came out thinking like, it was going to be easy, but those guys are really good even without Wemby. We just had to play hard, and I just had to take it upon myself to try to get us the win.”
Victor Wembanyama ejected after elbowing Naz Reid
Wembanyama was thrown out of the contest early in the second quarter after he threw an elbow that drilled Naz Reid right in his chin. The incident led to a wild scene at the Target Center.
Wembanyama went up to try to grab a rebound and got caught up with Jaden McDaniels. Suddenly, after appearing to gather his balance, Wembanyama turned and threw his right elbow hard. He hit Reid directly in his chin, which sent Reid down to the court instantly.
Naturally, fans in Minneapolis were livid.
Minnesota fans chanting “kick him out” after Wemby elbowed Naz Reid 😳 pic.twitter.com/vAUQUWijD0
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) May 11, 2026
The slow-motion replay of the elbow looked much worse than it did in real time.
Victor Wembanyama has been ejected from Game 4 for a flagrant foul penalty 2.pic.twitter.com/Yh3SH4gmKQ
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) May 11, 2026
Officials separated the players easily and diffused the situation. After a quick review, they determined Wembanyama’s actions were worthy of a Flagrant 2 foul, which led to his automatic ejection.
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Wembanyama, however, was unaware of what a Flagrant 2 foul meant. He actually had to ask Spurs veteran Harrison Barnes on the bench. He then high-fived the entire Spurs bench, turned and clapped at them several times and then walked into the tunnel. His night was done.
Victor Wembanyama realizing he was ejected:
“What does that mean? I’m ejected?!”
pic.twitter.com/3SQsZGaDvP— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 11, 2026
Wembanyama finished with four points and four rebounds. He shot 2 of 5 from the field in his 12 minutes on the floor.
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson addressed the incident after the game and didn’t condone Wembanyama’s actions. But he didn’t think it was intentional, either.
“It’s getting to a point that if the people that are in charge of controlling the game and protecting the physicality of the game don’t do that, then at some point he’s going to have to protect himself,” Johnson said, via the San Antonio Express-News’ Tom Orsborn.
As for any additional punishment from the league, Johnson doesn’t think anything is coming.
“There was zero intent,” he said. “I think it would be ridiculous.”
Timberwolves pull away late to grab win
Edwards took over in the fourth quarter to lift the Timberwolves to the win. He scored 14 of the team’s first 18 points in the final period and got them back in the lead by a point after a huge 3-pointer just past the midway point.
Edwards put in a second-chance bucket directly through Luke Kornet a few minutes later to push the Timberwolves to a two-possession lead, and then Rudy Gobert came through with a two-handed slam to cap a 9-2 burst. That was more than enough to complete the comeback and secure the five-point win.
Edwards went 13 of 22 in the field, Reid had 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench, and Gobert had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
De’Aaron Fox finished with 24 points for the Spurs, though he went just 1 of 7 from the 3-point line. The Spurs made only six 3-pointers in the contest. Dylan Harper put up 24 points and seven rebounds off the bench, and Stephon Castle added 20 points.
Wembanyama should be back on Tuesday night for the Spurs. But the Timberwolves got a win when they needed it most.
Just like that, we’ve got a series once again.
