Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia said in a radio interview Monday that his hard foul on Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook on Jan. 18 was payback for an elbow thrown at him on the previous possession. On KNBR's Murph & Mac show, Pachulia lamented that "very few fans" and reporters pointed out that Westbrook had essentially started it.
"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," Pahculia said. "He elbowed me, right [on the] previous play before I gave him a hard foul. He elbowed me. He lost the ball and threw the elbow at my face and we went on the fast break, Steph [Curry] had the layup and here they come and that's when I took the hard foul on him. So it was kind of payback from my side. And like I said, a lot of people [didn't] know it, and I didn't talk about it, but I think it's fair for me to say now. And after the game he made comments and I made my comments. 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."
This is where we point out that, in our original news story, we did mention Westbrook flailing his arm when he lost the ball and hitting Pachulia above the shoulders. It seemed like an easy connection to make at the time, and it was a little weird Pachulia didn't bring it up when asked about fouling Westbrook and standing over him.
To recap: Westbrook has vowed to get Pachulia back, but Pachulia says he was just getting Westbrook back. Pachulia also said he's prepared for Westbrook to try to get him back, at which point he'll presumably want to get Westbrook back again. This cycle could conceivably go on forever.
The Warriors and Thunder next meet Feb. 11 in Oklahoma City. It will be Kevin Durant's first game at Chesapeake Energy Arena as a visitor, but now there will be at least one more storyline people care about.
(HT: San Francisco Chronicle)
