A wiser Victor Wembanyama will learn his lesson and dominate for Spurs in Game 5 appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The San Antonio Spurs are currently gearing up for Game 5 of their second round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday evening at home. The Spurs are very lucky to have Victor Wembanyama available for this game after the star elbowed Naz Reid in vicious fashion in Game 4, earning himself an ejection and talks of a potential suspension, which the NBA ultimately opted not to impose.
Perhaps one thing that saved Wembanyama from being suspended, along with the league’s desperation not to sit out its most marketable young player in a pivotal playoff game, is his lack of a track record for this kind of incident throughout his career.
While the former number one pick has been involved in a verbal altercation or two throughout his first three years in the league, he rarely escalates to physical confrontation, which made Sunday’s incident all the more shocking. The Timberwolves’ defense has been very physical with Wembanyama throughout this series, and did appear to foul him on multiple occasions in the rebounding action leading up to the elbow, but that still obviously does not excuse the star from lashing out the way he did.
Further drawing criticism was Wembanyama appearing to feign confusion on the sidelines when his ejection was announced, asking teammate Harrison Barnes if he was indeed being thrown out of the game.
Use code CLUTCH to get $50 in Novig Coins for just $5
However, Spurs fans thankfully have every reason to believe that the violent incident was a blip on the radar and not something that will form into a pattern. Wembanyama spent time this past offseason living with monks in China in an attempt to train both his mind and body, and that stoicism will be key in helping him manage his emotions moving forward, both in this series and in the playoffs as a whole.
As previously mentioned, Wembanyama has never been known as a dirty player thus far in his career, so it wouldn’t be fair to project a pattern stemming from just one play, however violent it might have been. It’s certainly possible that the physicality of the playoffs, which he is encountering for the first time in his career, led his frustration to boil over to a higher point than he had previously experienced, something he will now be more prepared to handle moving forward.
The Spurs will be hoping for a big game out of Wembanyama as they look to retake control of the series in Game 5, having dropped Game 4 on the road following his ejection.
Tipoff is set for 8:00 pm ET from San Antonio.
Related: Ex-Lakers, Warriors guard calls for Victor Wembanyama suspension after Naz Reid elbow
Related: Victor Wembanyama sought out Gregg Popovich amid 2-2 series with T-Wolves
