Golden State blew out OKC last night to win the first meeting between the two this year with a score of 112-80 and they'll play each other again one more time on April 3rd. Each of their meetings has resulted in a blowout with OKC winning the previous two games 108-91 on November 22nd and 125-105 on February 6th.
Late in the 3rd quarter Zaza Pachulia tried to deliberately injure Westbrook after Westbrook went down on a drive after a collision with Nick Young. Young and Westbrook were trying for the rebound off of Westbrook's miss and Zaza was right there with them but they fell down and Zaza decided to flop onto Russ's leg in what was a blatant dirty play. No one touched Zaza and there was no cause at all for him to fall down like he did. He already has the reputation as a dirty player especially after he undercut Kawhi in the playoffs last year and the league should take action on this. It actually reminded me of when Gronkowski dropped an elbow on Tre'Davious White of the Bills after the play had been blown dead when the Bills and Patriots played in week 13 of the NFL season. Gronk got suspended for 1 game for that hit. However an NBA game shouldn't have a "play" that resembles a dirty hit from an NFL game. This isn't Zaza's first time doing something dirty either. I'd be surprised if he gets any more than a 1 game suspension but they need to watch him closely before he deliberately injures another player. Here is an
ESPN article that has Westbrook being interviewed post game where he calls out Zaza for that cheap shot.
For some reason they don't show the cheap shot in that article. You can view that here, in a youtube video that someone made that also includes the Kawhi cheapshot and gets Russ' post game reaction as well as Paul George's take. It also shows another cheap shot Zaza took on Westbrook during a previous meeting after Westbrook came around a pick.
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Here is a
link another video with multiple angles of the same play.
After seeing this I don't think his move that took out Kawhi can be called an accident any longer. I know some people gave him the benefit of doubt then but seeing him trying to injure another star player shows that is his MO when he's on the court. Whoever challenges the Warriors needs to watch their stars around Zaza because he'll try and get them out any way he can. It's unfortunate considering the Warriors are a great team anyway and don't need that sort of cloud hanging over their victories.
