Zaza Pachulia’s family being threatened after Kawhi Leonard incident
By John Buhler
Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia’s family is being threatened after his close out on San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard. Not cool, guys.
Outside of the Bay Area, a lot of basketball fans have turned their back on Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia. Folks in San Antonio especially cannot stand the guy after his close out on Spurs star Kawhi Leonard in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals resulted in the small forward suffering a high ankle sprain.
Golden State has won the first three games of the best-of-seven series. While Pachulia and the Warriors are poised to reach the 2017 NBA Finals with one more win over San Antonio, things are less care-free in the Pachulia household.
Apparently, the on-court incident has resulted in Pachulia’s family being threatened by rabid fans. USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick reports that while “Zaza Pachulia can handle being the villain of the Western Conference finals….but what Pachulia can’t tolerate…are the social media threats to his family that have left them all shaken.”
The situation was only exacerbated by Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s post-game press conference after Game 1. Popovich went out of his way to call Pachulia “a dirty player” and compared the highly controversial move by Pachulia on par with “manslaughter.”
What did Popovich think was going to happen? That Spurs fans and other people who don’t like the Warriors were going to respond to that comment reasonably? No, they’re fans and this is what idiot fans do when they’ve been prodded into thinking and acting out illogically.
Harassing a professional athlete’s significant other and their kids when they are going to school is completely embarrassing. Grade school children are definitely responsible for Leonard succumbing to an injury on a basketball court.
Injuries happen in sports. Was Pachulia’s close out of Leonard a dirty play? Potentially, but Popovich clearly did not see the irony in his comments. His former starting forward Bruce Bowen did plays like this all the time a little over a decade ago for the Spurs.
Pachulia may not be a star for the Warriors, but he does start at the five for Golden State. He did not play in Game 3 in San Antonio, but expect Pachulia to be booed relentlessly when he takes the court on Monday night.
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Golden State doesn’t have to play Pachulia in San Antonio if interim head coach Mike Brown feels so inclined. All the Warriors have to do is win one more game to advance to the team’s third straight finals. Fans can hate Pachulia all they want, but don’t drag his family into this.