Zaza Pachulia was whistled for a Flagrant-1 foul for a hard foul on Russell Westbrook near the end of the first half during the Warriors last matchup with the Thunder on Jan 18.
Westbrook was less than thrilled with the play following the game and vowed revenge on the Georgian big man.
“I don’t play that game,” Westbrook said. “I’m gonna get his ass back. Whenever that is, I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I don’t play that game.”
Pachulia joined Murph & Mac and explained why he chose to stand over Westbrook following the collision.
“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,” Pachulia said. “He elbowed me right (before the) previous play before I gave him a hard foul. He elbowed me. He lost the ball and threw the elbow in my face. We went on the fast break, Steph (Curry) had the layup and here they come and that’s when I took the hard foul.
“So it was kind of payback from my side. Like I said, a lot of people didn’t know that. I didn’t talk about it. I think it’s fair for me to say now.”
The Warriors and Thunder meet two more times this season, including February 11th in Oklahoma City. That game will also mark Kevin Durant’s first game in Oklahoma City since signing with the Warriors in the off-season. If the playoffs started today, the Thunder (25-19) would hold the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
“After the game he made comments and I made my comments,” Pachulia said. “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.”
