San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard suffered an injury under questionable circumstances in Sunday’s Game 1 vs. the Golden State Warriors, as Zaza Pachulia didn’t give him the room to properly land while closing out on Leonard’s jump shot. Leonard himself said that he doesn’t believe that Pachulia’s closeout was dirty or done with intent to injure. Leonard’s head coach, Gregg Popovich, begs to differ:
Popovich just went off… felt Zaza's close out on Kawhi was inappropriate #Spurs #Warriors pic.twitter.com/Y23hiz9swc
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) May 15, 2017
Popovich cited a number of previous so-called “dirty” plays that Pachulia has committed as precedent, and then said the following:
“Think about the history he’s had and what that means to a team, what happened last night,” Popovich said. “The totally unnatural closeout that the league has outlawed years ago, and pays great attention to it. And Kawhi’s not there. And you want to know how we feel about it. You want to know if that lessens our chances or not. We’re playing very possibly the best team in the league. You know, we don’t know what’s going to happen in the East. And 9.75 people out of 10 would figure the Warriors will beat the Spurs. Well, we’ve had a pretty damn good season. We’ve played pretty well in the playoffs. I think we’re getting better. And we’re up 23 points in the third quarter against Golden State, and Kawhi goes down. Like that. And you want to know if our chances are less, and you want to know how we feel? That’s how we feel.”
Popovich’s impassioned response was met with stunned silence by the members of the media. “Follow up?” Popovich asked, breaking the tension as reporters laughed in unison. Popovich allowed himself to crack his version of a smile, and concluded: “That pretty much cover it?”
Apparently, there was a follow-up question asked, and here was Popovich’s response:
When the word "intent" came up, Popovich went off again on the Zaza play #Spurs #Warriors pic.twitter.com/hcyy9v6hBl
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) May 15, 2017
He compared Pachulia’s action to a texting driver killing somebody:
“I think when you’re texting and you end up killing somebody, but you might not have intended to do that, all I care [about] is what I saw. All I care about is what happened. And the history there exacerbates the whole situation and makes me very, very angry. But I’m still open to follow-ups,” said Popovich to more laughter.
He was then asked if he believed that players should “have a responsibility for the safety of the other nine individuals on the floor:”
“Nobody wants to do anything that would put anybody else in danger for a game or a career. This guy’s history is different.”
In case you missed it, here’s the play that so infuriated Popovich:
Kawhi Leonard injures his ankle again and this time he's headed to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/gG6cVy6Sse
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 14, 2017
Leonard has been confirmed out for Tuesday’s game 2.
