Warriors fans are probably irate Pop is resting starters in the dang playoffs.

I, for one, am disappointed that Zaza was not able to change the laws of physics on the court yesterday. Shame on him.

Let’s be real. The bench rules about brawling were never about player protection from injury. It was about cleaning up the image of the NBA, just like the dress code stuff.

It’s an article marred with all sorts of dumbness. I especially like the assertions that 13 year vet Zaza Pachulia, who’s having maybe the best season of his career, is just some dumb oaf who’s just there to foul and thugerate people.

It wasn’t an argument to say Zaza isn’t an asshole. It was an argument to say Pop is full of shit as he’s previously gone on record condoning this type of play.

Albert Burneko is the dude that calls handchecks in a pickup game at the Y...

Let’s say the NBA had a beefier formal penalty for invading an airborne shooter’s landing area, whether intentionally or not. Let’s go crazy and imagine it triggered an automatic one-game suspension.

The is an exceedingly weak take. You are assuming that violent retribution would be a deterrent to a “dirty player.” Zaza def is dirty and the people aruing otherwise are just doing that talking head false-equivalency bs, but ask Bill Lambier of any of the fights he got into deterred his dirty play.

Okay. Looking at that GIF, I don’t think there is any reasonable way to concude there was anything intentional there. I know one of the points of this piece is that intent is kind of irrelevant, but I think it matters to a larger point. You compare this to the “no leaving the bench rule.” It’s kind of an inapt…

So the Warriors are now not allowed to be in the personal space of players of other teams or else it’s dirty play. Got it. Maybe next people will just call “defending” a dirty play when the Warriors do it.

Why isn’t David Lee getting interviewed for his part in this. He clearly and with malice stepped under Kawhi well before Leonard landed on Zaza’s size 20's.

Hmmm. Leonard was playing on an unstable ankle: literally minutes earlier he twisted it stepping on David Lee’s size 14s. I suffered months of repeated twists and sprains on my right ankle years back - the ligaments stretch and can no longer support sudden or unexpected forces. It’s a nightmare and you’re lucky to get…

Play a little basketball on the playground before you say stupid shit

Anyone who has rolled an ankle or who has a foot injury from BB.. knows that you will roll it again, have it stepped on. That’s just bball and what happens. No way that was intentional.

True pickup ball heroes: the non-jumping jumpshooters who land BEFORE the klutz/goon who charges right at shooters does. Klutz/goon then lands on their foot, hobbles off, and all the other regulars are comparatively safe from injury for three weeks until the klutz/goon recovers.

“Who gives a damn about what his intent was? You ever hear of manslaughter?”

I personally don’t think Pachulia is dirty (and I am a Spurs fan - more correctly a life long Duncan fan), I just think he is a terribly clumsy person. He was already looking at the ball before he landed, so he wasn’t even looking at where he is going. That’s how you fake people out for a foul.

Dellavedova’s biggest claim to “dirty” fame was diving for a loose ball (that he actually recovered, because he dove and the other player didn’t). Y’all so easily allow media narratives to shape your worldview lol

Given Zaza Pachulia’s (lack of) coordination, if he was actually trying to injure Kawhi Leonard he would have probably tripped over himself and decapitated a fan in the second row.

Pop hates dirty players thats why Bruce Bowen only lasted 8 years with the Spurs