Hour 1: Wembanyama Ejection Reaction, plus ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill Talks NBA Playoffs

0:00Rich Eisen:If you've ever wanted real energy without choking down something that tastes like regret, Bucked Up is the answer. The flavor is the thing people keep coming back for. Insanely delicious, which is not a phrase usually associated with energy drinks, and they're built on real science-backed ingredients. Clean energy that actually works without the garbage you don't want. Bucked Up is so confident you'll love their drinks, they're giving away an island vacation just to prove it. That's the kind of brand this is. No purchase necessary. Giveaway ends May 30th. Enter and find your closest Bucked Up at BuckedUpEnergy.com.

0:37Rich Eisen:Grab a Bucked Up and fuel like a million bucks. This is the Rich Eisen Show. Hey, everybody. Can't get enough of the Rich Eisen Show? You're in luck. You can find us everywhere. Watch us weekdays on Disney Plus from noon to 3 Eastern. Miss the show? We've got a podcast so you can listen anytime. But here's the best part. Our YouTube channel. Subscribe at youtube.com slash Rich Eisen Show and you'll never miss a moment. Now, on with the show. Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Oh, elbow. That's a good elbow by Victor. This is the Rich Eisen Show. You don't miss shots, Chris. The prize even more open and he hits a quarter triple.

1:23Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show. Today's guests. ESPN senior writer Vincent Goodwill, comedian Ron Taylor, former SportsCenter and Late Late Show host Craig Kilbourne, and now it's Rich Eisen. All right, everybody. Welcome to this edition of the Rich Eisen Show, live on Disney +, live on the ESPN app, live on ESPN Radio and Sirius XM Channel 80, coast to coast. We are thrilled to be here on this Monday after a very, very dramatic weekend in the world of basketball. NBA, WNBA tipping off. We had all sorts of stuff going down in Major League Baseball. The NFL has announced its first opening game here in the United States for the season on a Sunday night.

2:13Rich Eisen:844-204-RICH is the number to dial here on the program to chat with us. Good to see you over there, Chris Brockman. How are you? Hey, Rich. I'm great, man. What's up? DJ Mikey D is in D's nuts. Good to see you. and a man who as a Sixer fan is used to being surrounded by New Yorkers. Good to see you, TJ Jefferson. What's going on, sir? How are you? Loud New Yorkers, I guess. I'm good. Or people from the New York metropolitan area. To show there was no animosity, I wore a shirt from one of my favorites. Yeah, New York City eats its young. How to make it in America. Just to show that I don't want animosity.

2:47Rich Eisen:Wow. To know. Okay. I didn't know you were referring to the entire Philadelphia 76ers as young. That was a meal. That was a game that ate like a meal. We'll talk about that on this program, but we lead with Victor Wembanyama's elbow. You know, it's kind of crazy how that Timberwolves and Spurs series has developed easily the series of the second round. I mean, obviously, it's the only one that's now best of three. And the Cleveland Cavaliers can make that the case tonight with the Detroit Pistons visiting Cleveland in a very crucial game four of that series. And of course, you know, when one series is already a suite with the Knicks having taken care of the Sixers.

3:38Rich Eisen:And then you've got the Thunder on a Sunday getting the 12th overall pick in the draft. Due to the lottery and the way everything's played out with the Clippers, who did get a nice break. We'll talk about the lottery later on. That series is here in Los Angeles, expected to close out tonight. But the Spurs and the Timberwolves. Timberwolves watched the Spurs take a two games to one lead. Chris Finch and the officials with Tony Roberts, right? He's the one who, I'm trying to get that name right. Obviously, Tony Roberts is an actor from the Woody Allen movies in the 70s. But the Tony Brothers, pardon me, you know, they're going at it and that was wild.

4:25Rich Eisen:And, you know, we got a coach calling an official unprofessional. Yeah. And, you know, Spurs are up two games to one. And and then last night, Victor Wemba-Nyama throws an elbow and De 'Aaron Fox gets hurt. and the Spurs appear to be poised to take three games to one lead anyway. But the Victor Wambanyama ejection last night, quite rare for an All-Star to get ejected in a playoff game, certainly with 8.39 left in the second quarter. It's so rare. How rare is it? Yeah, it's the earliest an All-Star has been tossed in a playoff game in the play-by-play era. which means the way that the NBA tracks its games.

5:13Rich Eisen:That's the 1997-98 season. And the Spurs become the ninth team to watch an all-star get bounced before the fourth quarter period. Teams are now 1-8. And this moment on the screen right here, I will show you. victor wambanyama learning the flagrant two is called on the elbow hitting nas reed and he turns to harrison barnes if you could pop that photograph up one more time that would be great um he turns to harrison barnes and he says to him uh hey you know what does that mean the other thing too um is harrison barnes is six foot eight and wambanyama's seated and is able to put his hand around his neck to have Barnes get closer so he could hear the answer.

6:04Rich Eisen:Right. How about that? Right. And he asks Harrison Barnes, what does that mean? And Barnes tells him, you've been ejected. You're gone. And he says, okay. You know what that reminded me of? What's that? It reminded me of the time that Private First Class Downey asked Corporal Dawson about the verdict. Yeah, right. What does that mean, Corporal Dawson? How? How? It means we should have protected Santiago. as the code red got pulled on Victor Wambanyama by the officials. Honestly, that's the first thing I thought of. That's what it looks like. What does that mean? Yeah, you've been ejected. It's going to go on your record.

6:49Rich Eisen:And now Victor Wambanyama is at the front and center of the latest drama to be played out in the NBA playoffs off the court, at a microphone, in a press conference, where the head coach of the Spurs, Mitch Johnson, took to the podium, and Wem Bonyama, I believe, is this the first time, certainly in his playoff career, that he is receiving the treatment, the star treatment, the all-world, all-star treatment of his coach caping for him to get better calls from the officials. I mean, this is straight out of the Phil Jackson playbook, the Pat Riley playbook, using the postgame podium microphone to send a message to the officials of, hey, where the hell are the whistles?

7:36Rich Eisen:Because, yeah, when you see this play over and over and over again, you could see Wembanyama looking at Nas Reed as he throws the elbow. Now, you can also say his eyes were closed and all that sort of business, but it does appear to me that he is well aware of Nas Reed's vicinity to him, the proximity to him and the elbow getting thrown. And it catches, I mean, it just barely missed catching him like a left cross in a prize fight match that could have knocked him straight out. I mean, part of it caught him in the neck, which is, I think, very lucky because he could have knocked him right out. And you could also see, though, I believe that is Jaden McDaniels grabbing Wembanyama's other arm with his arms.

8:30Rich Eisen:And the latest fouling of Wembanyama that did not get called by the refs. I mean, the Timberwolves are beating the crap out of Victor Wambanyama in these playoffs, beating him up, tugging on his jersey, going ahead and slapping him every time they get knocking him over whenever they possibly can. You got to do what you got to get off me. And I don't blame him for this. I don't think this is intentional. And it was intentional, but I don't blame them because what else are you going to do? Well, put a pin in that for the moment. Here's Mitch Johnson, the head coach of the Spurs, afterwards saying what he wanted to communicate to everyone else, potentially also in the league office of anybody that can think about suspending Wembanyama off of this.

9:18Rich Eisen:I'm glad he took matters into his old hands. Again, not in terms of hitting Nas Reed, but I'll let me be very clear about that. I'm glad Nas Reed was okay, and I didn't want him to elbow him. But he's going to have to protect himself if they're not. And I think it's disgusting. So it's sounding to me like there's something differently you'd like to see from the officials in the way they officiate him. I just think that the amount of physicality that people play with him, at some level you have to protect yourself. He's gotten chucked. He's gotten pushed down in transition, running freely, all the stuff.

9:48Rich Eisen:He doesn't complain one time. We don't complain because we're just going to play. We don't really give a s***. Excuse my language. But at some stage, he should be protected. And if not, he's going to have to protect himself. And unfortunately, stuff like that happens.

10:08Rich Eisen:So, Coach of Spurs also asked if this means, because again, not to go all full few good men again, what does the flagrant two mean? It means a minimum of$2 ,000 for a fine, but it also means the league, the association, can take a look at this for further discipline. And others have been suspended for elbowing another individual and catching that individual in the face. That's happened before. And there's a game five coming up. And this is a massive decision by the NBA. And we'll talk about it with Vincent Goodwill shortly. But I don't know, intentional or not, he's been hammered. He's been mugged.

10:51Rich Eisen:You could watch it. And he's got to get used to it because there's no way to guard him. You can't guard him. There's no one else that can guard him. And if the Spurs do make it to the Western Conference Finals, I can't wait to watch him and Chet Holmgren go at it. Because they legit don't like each other. They don't like each other. I know that. And so somebody who can shoot threes and potentially guard him, he's unguardable. So what you have to do is keep tugging on him and keep hitting him and keep bothering him, and maybe he'll throw an elbow at you. And I guess he chose the right guy to throw an elbow to.

11:25Rich Eisen:Listen to Nas Reed's reaction to getting hit. In terms of taking the elbow, were you surprised? How much did it impact you? How much did it hurt? And have you been hit like that before in this game? Pain is weakness leaving the body. That's it. There you go. Pain is weakness leaving the body. Yes, Sensei. That's the U.S. Army slogan. I need to think that every single time I run the 40-yard dash. Right, right. Know that? that's all it is i had no idea pain don't hurt pain don't hurt pain is only weakness leaving nobody makes me bleed my blood it left there's a lot of weakness that left the chin and the neck area if it bleeds we can kill yeah i don't think he should be suspended i mean the guy missed half the game i mean look this is where reputation helps right if there's other players in the league say like a guy who was on a dais for a roast yesterday automatic suspension wimby right kind of clean slate with most of the big wigs i think he'll be fine how about this he's not wrong coach johnson about how he doesn't complain he never he didn't even stand up with put his arms up what's going on i got ejected for that didn't you see i'm getting dragged i'm getting hit he He never does say a word.

12:43Rich Eisen:You know what he also doesn't do? He doesn't flop. He doesn't hit the floor all that much. He doesn't flop. He's getting hit in the chin. I watched all of the, you know, montages that wound up in the, you know, palm of my hand on my threads feed yesterday. And he got hit in the chops multiple times. Julius Randle is grabbing him. Everybody's grabbing him. I mean, Gobert hit him in the face at one point. In the face. And he doesn't do anything. He does not flop. He does not hit the floor. Because that's like a fall from nine and a half feet. Then you got to get back up. Well, I mean, as you know, this is the second time he's missed time in the playoffs because of a fall he did take against Portland.

13:29Rich Eisen:And so he's not used to hitting the floor. And, you know, that's a big timber. Is that his nickname? Isn't it a big timber? No, that's Zimbide's nickname. Oh, gee. Come on. That's Embiid's nickname. I mean, the number of times he's on the floor. It's absurd. We're talking about Wemby now. I don't want to go full KG on here. How do you say that in French, by the way? Big Timber. Big Timber? Let's see. Big Timber, French translate. Okay. So it's tied at two games apiece because in a game, we're talking about an elbow. How about a foot at the end? And do you see the way this game ended with a full court pass and a one possession game?

14:13Rich Eisen:And it went through the arms of Ayo Desumu, and it goes through the arms and hits his foot as it flies up in the air, which keeps it from going out of bounds, and he corrals it in time for him to get fouled. He goes to the free throw line, and that was all she wrote. That was wild. Oh, and by the way, Anthony Edwards with a 36 piece, 13 to 22 from the floor. No biggie. So, and he also said, you know, his mother who passed away when he was young, he did that for his mother on Mother's Day is what he said afterwards. So there you have it. What a game that was last night. Great series. Great series.

14:55Rich Eisen:The other ones are going to be, one's a wrap, one's about to be a wrap, and the other one could be a wrap if Detroit wins tonight. You know, we'll see. That's 2-1. Oh, and by the way, we should just basically also say the reason why it's 2-1, James Harden came up with some big. By the way, I just went high register. That's going to happen. James Harden came up with some big points in the paint, a three-pointer that should have been a four-point play opportunity. You know? Cleveland played really well. They did. They're strong. They've been atop of the East the last few years. So that's on NBC Peacock tonight.

15:29Rich Eisen:Prime Video has Oklahoma City trying to wrap things up against the Los Angeles Lakers. boy do they feel like austin reeves is a defensive liability or what man did they go after him and deandre ayton suddenly the uh not going for rebounds version of ayton is has popped up at the worst possible time as jj reddick appeared to i don't know if you saw this you could lip read it him saying at one point it seems like he said i can't play him so that's the way things are going for the Los Angeles Lakers, and that's tonight. And we'll talk about it with Vince Goodwill, our friend from ESPN. In our number two, Ron Taylor, who was the winner of Funny AF with Kevin Hart on Netflix last week.

16:16Rich Eisen:He was at the roast last night. As soon as the stand-up comic and writer and actor who famously worked the door at the comedy store and is now the winner of Netflix's Funny AF with Kevin Hart, won that competition. We're like, let's get him in here. Certainly since he's local. He's a Pistons fan, I imagine, as well. He's here in hour number two. And, oh, perfect timing. With the Timberwolves tying this series up at two games apiece, Lord Kilby will be here. Hey-oh. Craig Kilboard will be here. Who's drinking? And I will, you know, give a little bit more. Well, I'm car washing him today. I'll explain to you what I'm doing with Craig Kilbourne today and what he's doing with us.

16:58Rich Eisen:Can't wait. 844-204-RICH is that number to dial. Do you think Victor Wembenyama intended to do it? Do you think he should be suspended? Anything that you have to say about over the weekend or what's going on in your life? Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. Vincent Goodwill is next.

17:16Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show Podcast.

17:23Rich Eisen:If you've ever wanted real energy without choking down something that tastes like regret, Bucked Up is the answer. The flavor is the thing people keep coming back for. Insanely delicious, which is not a phrase usually associated with energy drinks, and they're built on real science-backed ingredients. Clean energy that actually works without the garbage you don't want. Bucked Up is so confident you'll love their drinks, They're giving away an island vacation just to prove it. That's the kind of brand this is. No purchase necessary. Giveaway ends May 30th. Enter and find your closest Bucked Up at BuckedUpEnergy.com.

18:01Rich Eisen:Grab a Bucked Up and fuel like a million bucks. Rich Eisen here. PayPal is now the official peer-to-peer payments sponsor of the NFL, which means all the money moments that fandom creates, whether splitting tailgate costs or chipping in on tickets and game day food between friends are covered. Wherever the game is played or watched, PayPal moves with fans. You can send money through text, email, or directly to your friends with eligible accounts on Venmo. Just download the PayPal app and share all the moments that matter. Account with PayPal is required. Not available in all regions where PayPal operates.

18:37Rich Eisen:Save money on your next oil change with O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Get a$15 O 'Reilly gift card after rebate when you buy five quarts of Mobile One full synthetic motor oil for just$35.95. Stop by your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts.

18:54Rich Eisen:Back here on the Rich Eisen Show. 844-204-RICH is the number to tell. We're cleaning out the fridge. I can't follow you along sometimes, Mike. Sorry, Rich. It's all right, man. We're playing them home. We're talking about the first week of the season. You're like, I smell Rams-Chiefs on a Sunday night. I'm like, wait a minute. They just announced the first Sunday night game of the season. It does not involve either of those teams because the Rams are in Australia. You're just saying at some point. Yeah, down the road. Okay, very good. Thank you for that, Mike. Yeah, I mean. You know, just smell what the Del Tufo is cooking.

19:23Rich Eisen:Oof, D. Vincent Goodwill was kind enough to push his, you take the Acela, I imagine, right? The fast train from Philadelphia to New York, Vincent, correct? The very fast Acela train, absolutely. I'll push it back for you, Rich. I really appreciate that because I definitely wanted to get your two cents here. the ESPN senior NBA writer joining us here from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the Knicks completed the sweep of the Sixers. But I do want to start with your two cents, what you may know, not know about how the NBA is viewing Victor Wembanyama's elbow as you and I are chatting here just afternoon on the Monday in the aftermath.

20:00Rich Eisen:What do you got? Well, I know some people might be clamoring. I've seen on some of our ESPN shows. one Kendrick Perkins has been clamoring for a suspension. I don't think that's going to happen. I think, honestly, the best thing for Victor Wiminiama was that he was thrown out last night. I think had he not been thrown out, had that been a flagrant one, the league probably would have come back and assessed it as a flagrant two plus a suspension. When you miss the last 30-something minutes of a playoff game, that's almost like a full-game suspension already. The league doesn't want to come in and assess another one.

20:34He's not a repeat offender. I know it didn't look necessarily like the best play, but Victor Wiminiyama doesn't have a history of such a thing. We know that also he's a star, you know, that plays a part in it, too. But I don't think it meets the criteria of ejection plus next game suspension in game five of a hotly contested semifinal series.

20:54Rich Eisen:OK, so but the conversation is being had right now. League offices, anything like that? Oh, yeah, yeah. The conversation is being had. It's always going to be under review from James Jones, from Adam Silver, from the entire league office. But I haven't gotten any indication as of 1225 right now, because anything can happen in the NBA. You never know. I'm sure, you know, as the Knicks fans, some of the suspensions that have been handed down to you guys over the course of the past 30 years. Anything can happen that can alter the course of a series. I'm just not sure that I see that happening in this case.

21:25Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, Mitch Johnson was definitely making his case for Wembanyama being the wronged party in every second of the game, with the exception of him throwing his elbow at Nas Reed. Where does that conversation stand, do you think, Vincent? Well, I think, Rich, you have to protect your player. And I think Mitch Johnson, as a this is, you know, a younger coach. He's in his early 40s. He's going to have a very long relationship with Victor Wembanyama. This is their first time going through the playoffs. And Victor is experiencing a level of physicality that, you know, he's not initiating. Rudy Gobert and Nas Reed and Julius Randle, they're putting pause on him.

22:06And that's the book on him so far. So unless you have a goon and last I checked, there's no Charles Oakley. There's no Anthony Mason. There's no Xavier McDaniel, Rick Mahorn, Bill Lambert, you know, lying around anywhere that they can add to their roster. He's going to have to be the guy at this point to protect himself. I think it was more of a macro conversation that he was having yesterday as opposed to exactly what was happening in that moment. And I don't have a problem with it because what better time is there to talk about protecting your player? Because you know what's going to happen in the first couple of minutes of Game 5 in San Antonio if Victor is allowed to play.

22:42The Minnesota Timberwolves are going to go at him and try to provoke him even more.

22:46Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, to have anything on top of that, Johnson said, in terms of a suspension, I think that would be ridiculous. Are you saying that Luke Cornett is not going to throw his weight around? Is that what you're saying, Vincent? I am not saying that Luke Cornett is soft. I am merely saying that there's only two guys who are really tough guys in today's league that I can really think of. One is Draymond Green and the other is Isaiah Stewart. And last I checked, the San Antonio Spurs can't make any trades between now and then. And we would have all called the Spurs foolish if they would have gotten a designated goon, so to speak, before the start of the season.

23:26They hadn't won a playoff series. They hadn't even gotten to the playoffs. So for them to use a roster spot as a designated victor protector, we all would have laughed at them and said that they had gotten ahead of their skis. It's just now I, for one, Rich, am happy that there is a level of contentiousness in the playoffs. I'm not happy that Victor threw the elbow, but I'm happy that we are able to see some real hatred and physicality competitively that would even prompt a discussion like this.

23:54Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, and so you hear what Mitch Johnson is saying about the lack of whistles for his big guy. Chris Finch also calling Tony Brothers, quote, completely unprofessional behavior from Friday night. Is there there was nothing, no pushback from the association on this? Or where does that stand, Vincent? Well, the league kind of chuckles at such things because they know Chris Finch likes to work the officials in and out of the game. Like, like these guys are actual normal human beings. and then when it's 48 minutes, they all turn into maniacs that are unhinged and super competitive when you consider the stakes and everything else.

24:30And Tony Brothers is not a guy who's going to take a whole lot of guff from today's coaches. It doesn't look, you know, like sonically correct and everything else to see a coach sort of walking, an official walk towards a coach and look like he initiates something. But I'm sure Tony Brothers have been hearing it all night from Chris Finch and decided to say, hey I've had enough these things well luckily you don't have the same officials for every game so the relationships don't carry over from game to game but once again I don't mind that at all and