SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Only Zaza Pachulia knows if his play of Kawhi Leonard was intentionally dirty.
Yes or no, it certainly became the topic of the Western Conference Finals game one.
True, the Warriors went on an 18-0 run after Leonard left the game, not to mention they blew at one point a 25-point lead.
As sports fans, we are trained to pretty much always think the referees, broadcasters, and opposing players are always trying to do something against our team.
Truth be told, if this happened to Steph Curry or Kevin Durant, Warrior fans would be moaning even louder than Spurs followers.
Does San Antonio coach Greg Popovich honestly think Pachulia tried to injure Leonard? Probably not, but hey, it’s called gamesmanship.
Pop is looking for a little advantage from the refs in Game 2. The point of all this is 99 percent of the time, the referees are not trying to cheat your team, and opposing broadcasters aren’t attempting to dig up dirt on your players.
And players have too much respect for each other to try and seriously hurt an opposing player.
Be physical and aggressive, but not put someone out of business.
I will bet you a buck Popovich deep down is more concerned about letting a 25-point lead get away than thinking Pachulia is out to illegally hurt his players.
