Advertisement

Zaza Pachulia welcomes whatever revenge Russell Westbrook has planned for him

ben rohrbach
Senior writer
This is what happens when you cross Zaza Pachulia. (Getty Images)
This is what happens when you cross Zaza Pachulia. (Getty Images)

We may be almost a week removed from Zaza Pachulia leveling Russell Westbrook, but the Golden State Warriors center would like to set the record straight about his flagrant foul: It was just payback.

[Follow Ball Don’t Lie on social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Tumblr]

During an appearance on San Francisco’s KNBR-AM “Muprh & Mac” show, Pachulia conceded his hard foul and ensuing staredown over a writhing Westbrook was not, as he indicated after last week’s 121-100 win over the Golden State, “a good steal, honestly, because I had the ball in my hands,” but rather revenge for the play before, when he claims the league’s MVP favorite threw an elbow at his face.

“First of all, I didn’t mention where everything started, and maybe that’s my fault not to make it clear that I didn’t start that conversation or incident on the court,” said Pachulia. “He elbowed me right (before the) previous play before I gave him a hard foul. He elbowed me. He lost the ball and threw the elbow in my face. We went on the fast break, Steph (Curry) had the layup and here they come and that’s when I took the hard foul.

“So it was kind of payback from my side. Like I said, a lot of people didn’t know that. I didn’t talk about it. I think it’s fair for me to say now.”

This is the play, preceding Pachulia’s menacing foul on Westbrook, to which Zaza refers:

Clearly, after losing the ball, Westbrook’s elbow entered the space reserved for Pachulia’s face. It’s unclear whether the Thunder star intentionally swung his elbow out of frustration after Draymond Green picked his pocket and found Curry for an easy transition layup, but we know how Zaza feels.

In the immediate aftermath, Pachulia told reporters, “I thought it was a good steal, honestly, because I had the ball in my hands. Officials called a foul; there’s nothing you can do. A foul is a foul. If it was a hard foul, it was a hard foul. There is nothing you can do. So you just move on. If he got hurt, that’s fine too. It’s part of the game.”

He then added, “We all know what my game is, to play hard. Not dirty, but play hard. If it was a hard foul, it was a foul. It wasn’t dirty at all, so I’m not worried about this.”

[Sign up for Yahoo Fantasy Basketball | Mock Draft | The Vertical | Latest news]

Intentionally bulldozing an opponent as “payback” for an errant elbow on the previous play could certainly be interpreted as a dirty play by some standards, and as I said at the time, the Georgian big man’s “If he got hurt, that’s fine too” is a little too much like Ivan Drago’s “If he dies, he dies” for my taste.

Then again, he’s the enforcer for a team that threw itself a party with “SUPER VILLAINS” balloons.

Gang Gang Gang @javalemcgee @stephencurry30 @klaythompson @andre @andersonvarejao18 @pmccaw0 #KD @zazapachulia

A photo posted by Draymond Green (@money23green) on Nov 11, 2016 at 6:11pm PST

For his part, Westbrook vowed, “I don’t play that game. I’m gonna get his a** back”:

The two teams meet again Feb. 11 in Oklahoma City, and apparently Zaza will be waiting for Westbrook.

“After the game he made comments and I made my comments,” Pachulia told KNBR. “I said, ‘I’ll be there. I’ll definitely be there in OKC.’ So whatever he wants to do, I’ll be on the court.”

There you have it, folks. Zaza Pachulia vs. Russell Westbrook, two of the top All-Star Game vote-getters by NBA fans, is quickly joining Boston Celtics vs. Washington Wizards as the season’s weirdest rivalry. At least Zaza has done Kevin Durant a favor and taken some of Westbrook’s attention off that feud.

– – – – – – –

Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!