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On Sunday, Zaza Pachulia put his foot under San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard's foot as he landed from a jumper, rolling his ankle, exacerbating an existing injury, and removing him from the game. The Warriors went on an 18-0 run, eventually claiming the lead in the fourth after being down 23 in the second half, and winning 113-111. 

Leonard said after the game he didn't feel the play was dirty. His coach, Gregg Popovich, however, had different feelings on the subject. 

Strong words from Popovich, clearly upset and looking to protect his player. (And if he puts a little pressure on the league to eventually punish Pachulia or officiate Game 2 differently, all the better.) 

But of course, as soon as it happened, people began noting the irony of it -- sticking your leg out underneath a play coming down to interfere with the landing of your opponent is known as "the Bowen," after former Spurs guard Bruce Bowen. 

It was such a problem, the league actually came out and made a point to try and clean it up, which for the most part, they did. Pachulia's issue can be described as unintentional, that's certainly what he claimed on Sunday. And on Monday, he fired back at Popovich's criticism, saying he is not a dirty player. But Popovich's point that intention is irrelevant resonates as well. 

But back to Bowen, someone on Reddit dug up this quote from Popovich in 2006, 11 years ago, when talking about the former Spurs defensive specialist: 

Popovich said Bowen is being singled out, citing incidents where New Jersey's Richard Jefferson and Dallas' Josh Howard sprained ankles after landing on Miami's Shaquille O'Neal and Golden State's Mickael Pietrus.
"Did (the league) call them?" Popovich said. "Did they call all those guys (Dirk) Nowitzki landed on when he sprained his ankles the past three, four years? The answer is no.
"So why did they call Bruce? Because it's happened to him twice? Bruce guards an All-Star every night. If he was doing what they're accusing him of doing, wouldn't it have happened a higher percentage of times?
"The people who cry about it are just frustrated about having to go against Bruce."
"The league is just trying to cover its ass," Popovich said. "I told Bruce, 'You be Bruce Bowen. You're the best (expletive) defender in this league. You will NOT change the way you play defense.'
"Stu Jackson is not going to change my team just because he thinks he's doing the right thing."

And so there's a lot of this going on on Twitter: 

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Which is all well and good, except ... it doesn't mean Popovich is wrong, now. If you thought he was right then, you should think he's wrong now, and if you thought he was wrong then, you should think he's right now. Popovich's hypocrisy on this issue is irrelevant to whether or not Pachulia's play was "dirty" or "reckless" or "fine." You can make strong arguments either way, but you can't form a strong argument around what Popovich said 11 years ago. 

Popovich might have evolved his thinking. Maybe he has a legit reason to suggest why this is different. Maybe it's just as simple as "he'll allow it when it's on his team and attack it otherwise." That's kind of how coaching goes. Popovich loses nothing by going off on Pachulia like that, and his point about a history of suspect play from Pachulia has merit: 

There's hypocrisy here, when it comes to Bowen. That's undeniable. Bowen did the same thing. And Robert Horry hip-checked Steve Nash and the Spurs in the 2000's made plenty of plays that were borderline. When you compete like this in this environment, that stuff is going to happen, lines are going to be crossed. 

But you can't really dismiss what Popovich's saying with this "ah-ha!" moment of internet sleuthing. "Coach defends player's actions, criticizes other players for doing the same thing" isn't exactly breaking news. But it's also why maybe Popovich's word on this subject shouldn't be treated with the same gravity as his takes on league issues, politics, or whatever else. He's invested in this, it's personal, and there are politics involved in working the officials, too, though Popovich doesn't dabble in that dark art the same way a lot of coaches do. 

If you thought the Pachulia play was dirty when it happened, you should probably feel the same way. If you didn't, you should stick to that. Either way, it's not going to matter, the damage is done, and the Spurs are left to pick up the pieces.