Cavs discuss Zaza Pachulia’s foul on Kawhi Leonard

Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard Iman Shumpert and head coach Tyronn Lue discussed Zaza Pachulia’s foul on Kawhi Leonard, assessing whether or not it was intentional.

The Cleveland Cavaliers haven’t played basketball for quite some time and because of that, they have plenty of time to answer questions about the other teams that remain in the playoffs. A hot topic for the NBA today has been Zaza Pachulia’s foul on Kawhi Leonard, one which led to the latter leaving the game after rolling his ankle.

Instantly, reactions poured in about whether the play was intentional or not and there would be mixed reviews. There still are. You could ask ten people today and you’d likely get five people who think it was dirty and five people who think it was unintentional.

However, there’s not a single person who doesn’t think it was dangerous, as players get hurt on those types of closeouts all the time.

Shooting guard Iman Shumpert said that he thinks it was incidental, basically citing the fact that it happens so often as the reason.

Per cleveland.com‘s Chris Fedor:

"“I just think it’s an unfortunate position for a ref to be in to have to see that… A guy rolls his ankle, it’s incidental. It happens in this game.”"

Head coach Tyronn Lue would share his sentiments, citing how tough it is to avoid contact.

"“Just a tough play nowadays with all the shot-faking and guys jumping into guys,” Lue said. “You teach your guys to stay down most of the time and when you do leave your feet guys are shot-faking and jumping into you so it’s a tough play in basketball now. It’s hard to read and hard to gauge. It’s part of our game now.”"

While Shumpert and Lue have said the same thing about the play, Shumpert did note that players are wary of landing on a player’s foot if they get too close.

"“It’s something that bothers a lot of players,” Shumpert said. “I know a lot of times just playing defense, getting a hard contest, I’ve seen guys flinch just because I’m jumping out there because they’re nervous they might land on your foot.”"

With that said, the Cleveland Cavaliers have to wonder a couple of things.

Firstly, if players are aware that it’s such a dangerous play, why contest shots in that fashion. Many times when you watch the Cavs play, they do what Lue said and “stay down”. Players like Channing Frye and Kyle Korver will contest shots without leaving their feet, choosing to run straight through to the sideline with their hands extended and their heads down.

They’re doing that because they’re trying to avoid contact. They’re shooters. They know the dangers of not allowing players to land properly.

Secondly, what would the Cavs be saying about the play if it was LeBron James who went down with injury. Or better yet, what would James say, who is always keen on talking about the right way to play the game. We James call Zaza’s extra step forward as Leonard descended a “basketball play”? Or would he side with San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich?

Personally, I looked at that play quite a few times and compared it to similar incidents: Lamarcus Aldridge closeout on Stephen Curry in the same game, Giannis Antetokuonmpo’s closeout on Serge Ibaka in the first round of the playoffs, Jalen Rose’s closeout on Kobe Bryant and a few of Bruce Bowen’s most memorable closeouts.

The difference for me is that in all of these other attempts, there is a natural shuffle forward before the defender stops. With Zaza, there is a clear extra step that he takes forward. You add in Zaza’s history, particularly this arm bar he tried to execute on Leonard that would make Kelly Olynyk proud, and it’s hard to defend Zaza.

This is like a court case where you don’t have hard evidence and it’s all circumstantial. Conclusions will be drawn but there will never be certainty about what the truth is.

Related Story: Grading the Cavs through the first two rounds

Do you think that Zaza Pachulia knew what he was doing when his closeout on Kawhi Leonard ended in the latter injuring his ankle? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or Twitter @KJG_NBA.