Kyrie Irving elaborated on his criticism of Zaza Pachulia‘s tendency to injure opposing players, saying the NBA needs to take a harder look at the big fella’s actions.
Pachulia landed on Russell Westbrook‘s legs on Saturday, and avoided disciplinary action after denying that he purposely fell onto the reigning MVP.
Kyrie on Pachulia's fall on Westbrook: "I saw it and I was just like ‘man this (bleep) is ridiculous.’ Because then we’re talking about something totally different if Russ does get hurt and he has a 260-pound guy falling on his leg or his knee." https://t.co/EZFJyS3Bur
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) March 1, 2018
Irving says Pachulia deserves scrutiny for being a repeat offender.
Per the Boston Globe:
“I think everybody kind of saw what happened,” Irving told the Globe. “Whether Nick [Young’s] foot pushed him down forward, we’ve seen it over and over, and I don’t want to direct just him being a very, very dirty player strictly on him because a lot of dirty plays happen throughout the NBA, but I mean when it’s consistently happening.
“Russ felt the same way. Paul [George] felt the same way.”
Irving said the play was dirty and Pachulia is a repeat offender.
“We all saw what was going on,” he said. “Whether people want to admit it or not, that’s on them. But for me, I voiced my opinion. It’s not me going against the league. I felt that play was just unnecessary. It was totally unnecessary.”
