Kuminga Elbows Sengun in the Face, Gets a Flagrant 1, Then Wins the Game Late

Jonathan Kuminga nearly got thrown out of the game in the second quarter, then won it in the fourth. The Minnesota forward was assessed a flagrant 1 for elbowing Alperen Sengun in the jaw during the Timberwolves’ 117-107 win at Houston on November 4, a play that sent Sengun to the floor and brought Kevin Durant charging in to confront him. Kuminga stayed in the game, finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and powered the closing run that decided it. The elbow and the ending belong in the same sentence, because the same player produced both.

What happened on the play?

A rebound, then an elbow that had no business being part of it. ClutchPoints reports that with 5:24 remaining in the second quarter, Sengun missed a floater near the basket on a good contest from Kuminga, who then secured the defensive board. Right after coming down with the ball, Kuminga extended his arm and caught Sengun in the face with his elbow. Larry Brown Sports describes the same sequence: Sengun tried to score on Kuminga at the rim, missed, and Kuminga reared back up after the rebound and caught him in the face. Sengun fell hard and stayed on the court holding his head, and the officials had to separate the two sides as tempers flared. It was the kind of play that looks worse the more times it is replayed, which is why the review mattered more than the whistle.

Why was it only a flagrant 1?

Because Kuminga did not wind up. The officials reviewed the incident and assessed a flagrant 1 for excessive contact to the head, and Sengun made both free throws, Larry Brown Sports reports. ClutchPoints puts the line precisely: the only thing that saved Kuminga from an immediate ejection on a flagrant 2 was that he did not wind up his arm before hitting Sengun squarely on the jaw. The contact was most certainly excessive, in its words, but whether the hit was actually intentional is ambiguous. That ambiguity is the whole argument of the night. Sengun seemed to believe Kuminga should have been ejected, not just warned, Fadeaway World reports, and plenty of fans online agreed with him. Others called it a natural basketball move or accused Sengun of exaggerating the contact. The rulebook draws the line at wind-up and intent, and the officials decided this one fell on the survivable side of it. The contrast with the week’s other flagrant is instructive: Dillon Brooks was ejected for kicking Jamal Murray, a flagrant 2, in a play where the officials saw a deliberate kick rather than a rebound gone wrong.

What did Durant do, and what did it cost?

He went straight at Kuminga, and it cost Houston nothing on the scoreboard and something in the narrative. Larry Brown Sports reports Durant came in to confront Kuminga after the elbow, and Fadeaway World reports he took exception to the response and confronted the Timberwolves forward before teammates and officials intervened. Durant finished with 21 points, and the confrontation is the image that travelled, a veteran star stepping in for his centre. It did not change the call, and it did not rattle Kuminga. If anything, the fourth quarter suggests it steadied him. Draymond Green was ejected for a similar confrontation with Brooks two nights earlier, and the league’s silence on that one is still the open question in this story’s background: the NBA has said nothing about either incident yet, and the flagrant-1 call here is the only official word on the play.

How did Kuminga win the game after nearly losing it?

With the exact run Minnesota needed, from the exact player Houston wanted gone. The Associated Press reports Minnesota led by two before a three-pointer from Kuminga, a steal by Dosunmu and a tip-in by Kuminga made it 111-104 with about two minutes remaining. Durant made two free throws for Houston before another three by Kuminga extended the lead to 114-106 with less than a minute to go. Fadeaway World adds that Kuminga scored eight points in the fourth quarter on perfect 3-for-3 shooting. He finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists, shooting 4-for-7 from three. That is the redemption arc in full: the player who should, on Houston’s reading, have been ejected in the second quarter hit the shots that ended the game in the fourth. LeBron James’s wine sip in Philadelphia showed how fast a single viral moment can swallow a box score, and this one did the same, except the box score fought back: Dosunmu led Minnesota with 21, Ball scored 12 of his 20 in the fourth, and Sengun’s triple-double, 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, his 13th, came in a loss.

What does the win mean without Anthony Edwards?

More than a regular November road win, because of who was missing. The Associated Press reports Minnesota is already without star Anthony Edwards for up to two months after arthroscopic knee surgery, and also played without guard Terrence Shannon Jr., who missed his second straight game with a bruised hip. Houston, meanwhile, lost only its second game of the season and fell to 7-2, second in the West, while Minnesota improved to 6-3. Fadeaway World notes the win is a promising sign for a Timberwolves team that has now shown it can beat a highly rated side without its star. Kuminga is the reason that claim holds: he has emerged as a valuable weapon for Minnesota, especially on the defensive end, ClutchPoints notes, and his presence mattered against Durant and an on-fire Jabari Smith Jr. The elbow is the incident. The fourth quarter is the reason Minnesota could afford it. Gobert’s own viral week, dismissing a bench clip involving Kuminga, already had Kuminga in the frame for the wrong reasons, and this game gave him a second one, then handed him the ending.

What happens next?

Friday in New Orleans for Minnesota, Saturday in Phoenix for Houston, and no rematch until 2027. Fadeaway World reports the two teams will not play each other again in the 2026 calendar year, with their three remaining fixtures on January 5, January 20 and April 11. The open question is whether the league says anything about the elbow before then. A flagrant 1 carries no automatic suspension, and nothing has been reported, so the likely answer is silence. But the clip will travel until January, and when the teams meet again, Sengun will remember a jaw, Durant will remember a confrontation, and Kuminga will remember that the night he nearly got thrown out was the night he closed the game.