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Zaza Pachulia’s Family Receiving Death Threats; Security Deployed at Children’s School

Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia may be the most hated man in the NBA right now.

Not only do San Antonio Spurs fans despise Pachulia for the sketchy play that injured star forward Kawhi Leonard in Game 1, but so does every basketball fan. The dirty play—that has received mass media attention—ruined the Western Conference Finals series and held Leonard out of the following two games and likely more.

Pachulia family has reportedly been on the receiving end of threats since the incident.

On Sunday, Sam Amick of USA Today reported there have been “social media threats to his family that have left them all shaken.”

Amick noted security guards were placed at the entrance to the schools of Pachulia’s children as a precautionary measure.

The next day, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich made stern comments regarding Pachulia’s actions in Game 1.

Popovich just went off… felt Zaza's close out on Kawhi was inappropriate #Spurs #Warriors pic.twitter.com/Y23hiz9swc

— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) May 15, 2017

Pachulia does not totally blame Popovich for the social media threats, but feels his rant played a major factor in them.

“I don’t blame everything on Pop, but what he said had a lot of influence [and] you had a lot of people where, unfortunately, you can’t control what everybody’s intelligence is,” Pachulia said, per Amick. “[Fans] just hear the message, and it’s, ‘Ok, Pop said so and now let’s do this.’ It’s just wrong. You’ve got to think, and realize. Threaten me, but don’t threaten my wife or say something about my kids. It’s just wrong.”

 

THE INCIDENT:

https://twitter.com/balldontstop/status/864187063079387139