Barber: Warriors’ Zaza Pachulia villainized after Kawhi Leonard injury

OAKLAND

In truth, Spurs fans couldn’t have chosen a better villain than Zaza Pachulia, at least not one who looked and sounded the part more.

Pachulia demonstrates a subtle sense of humor, but he tends to speak in a low, rumbling monotone. His face is half face and half speed bag that has been boxed into puffiness. He stands 6 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs somewhere in the vicinity of 270 pounds. And of course there is that Georgian accent, and we’re not talking cotton fields. Pachulia isn’t just straight out of Central Casting, he’s straight out of Central European Casting. He may have a future as a Bond villain when he’s done rebounding.

Pachulia was so intent on completing the look that in the post-game locker room he wore a jacket that resembled a trench coat.

And yet no one was accusing the Warriors center of stealing microfilm or poisoning someone’s caviar. They were accusing him of intentionally hurting Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs’ best player and a perennial candidate for the NBA most valuable player award.

The Warriors’ 113-111 win against San Antonio at Oracle Arena on Sunday afternoon was so dizzying that we could devote an entire sports section to it. Golden State’s 20-point halftime deficit was the third largest ever overcome in an NBA postseason game. The Spurs’ lead had bulged to 25 points in the third quarter, making this the first time a Gregg Popovich-coached team ever dropped a game it had led so comfortably - after 316 previous tries.

Game 1 of the Western Conference finals had stomach-tingling performances by Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, a strange ending that saw the determined Spurs cut the deficit to one point with 31 seconds left, and even a reappearance by the ailing Steve Kerr, who addressed the Warriors at halftime but left the courtside coaching to assistant Mike Brown.

For Spurs fans, though, the result was wholly explained by one play. It occurred with 7:55 remaining in the third quarter and San Antonio enjoying a stunning 78-55 lead.

Leonard, a brilliant two-way player who already had accumulated 26 points and eight rebounds in less than 2½ quarters, shot a long 2-pointer from the left corner and his left foot landed awkwardly on Pachulia’s. It was a story of two left feet, and it didn’t play out well for Leonard, who had missed the Spurs’ Game 6 victory against Houston in the previous round with an injury to his left ankle.

A San Antonio assistant helped Leonard limp to the locker room, and he did not return to the game. Might not be back for Game 2 on Tuesday, either.

With Leonard out, the Spurs hardly skipped a beat. No, hold on. They skipped several beats. In fact, they skipped most of their beats for the rest of the game. The Warriors immediately cut into that 23-point deficit with an 18-0 run over a mere 3:28. The Spurs caught their breaths and went into the fourth period ahead 90-81, but the writing was on the wall. That writing said, “You cannot beat the Warriors without Kawhi Leonard.”

Spurs fans, and even some media observers, were certain it was penned in Zaza Pachulia’s handwriting.

Here is a sampling of anti-Pachulia Twitter (untidied by me) during and after Game 1.

@RealTomPetrini: “Zaza took an extra step after Kawhi released the ball Dirty as all hell”

@RealSkipBayless: “What Zaza Pachulia just got away with doing just makes me sick. So that’s how Golden State has to win now.”

@MichaelVPina: “Zaza deserves to be thrown out of the league for that”

@quinnocallaghan: “The Assassination of Kawhi Leonard by the Coward Zaza Pachulia.”

Et cetera, et cetera.

After the game, The Most Hated Man in San Antonio stood before the cameras and explained himself.

“I had to challenge the shot,” Pachulia said. “Especially it was a handoff situation. I saw that my teammate was behind a screen and I had to challenge the shot, that’s what I did. Turned around for the rebound and that was it. I hate anybody going down like that with an injury.”

And as for the allegations that he hurt Leonard on purpose?

“I mean, that’s really stupid,” Pachulia said. “I don’t think I should be making comment. I’m not that good to doing intentional stuff like that.”

His Warriors teammates were quick to defend Pachulia. Durant, for example: “Zaza’s not a dirty player. I mean, you gotta time that perfectly if you want to hurt somebody. We’re not that type of team. Kawhi’s an unbelievable player. I mean, I’ve got nothing but respect for him. We wish that he was healthy. But (Pachulia) just tried to contest the shot, man.”

Even Leonard absolved him of intent.

Here’s my take. Short of a tearful confession, we can’t really know if Pachulia’s actions were intentionally injurious. But they probably weren’t. Imagine the mental and physical dexterity it would take to chase Kawhi Leonard out to 3-point line and, with your head turned away from him, place your foot in the precise spot where he is likely to land. Not likely, right?

A more relevant question is this: Was Pachulia being reckless when he crowded Leonard? An unwritten rule of basketball holds that you have to give a shooter a place to land. And Pachulia did deny the Spurs All-Star a landing pad.

On the other hand, as reckless behavior goes, this play wasn’t nearly as transgressive as others we’ve seen from, for example, Draymond Green or Matthew Dellavedova or Chris Paul.

Pachulia is no ballet dancer. Remember when Durant missed most of 20 games with a knee injury this season? He got hurt when Pachulia tumbled into him following a shove by Washington’s Marcin Gortat. Pachulia wasn’t being dirty when he challenged Leonard at the arc. He was being his usual lumbering self. Again, the story of two left feet.

Pachulia is the kind of guy who can drive other players crazy, because he’s an overturned ladder waiting to happen. He’s clumsy. Not dirty.

And as for all those angry tweeters?

“You can’t listen to people on Twitter,” Durant said. “They’re irrational.”

Especially when they’re Spurs fans and the Warriors have just ripped out their souls.

You can reach Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.