Zaza Pachulia bothers opponents, boosts Hawks

Bothered by the persistently physical play of Hawks center Zaza Pachulia, Miami’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas finally had enough.

So after Pachulia scored a basket, Ilgauskas flung the ball forcefully at his back. Officials called a technical foul on Ilgauskas and ejected him from the game.

And this was from a guy Pachulia considers to be a good friend.

“He is the greatest guy,” Pachulia said after Miami’s 98-90 victory on Monday at Philips Arena. “I am definitely going to call him. Or maybe text him because he might not answer.”

If Pachulia has that effect on his friend, imagine what other players think about his style. With the Hawks set to begin their playoff series against Orlando this weekend, Pachulia’s rough-and-tumble play could be valuable.

The Hawks game against the Heat might have been a preview of what’s to come.

“There was a lot of contact between that particular player and our guys all night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

That’s the way it goes a lot of times with this particular player. Ilgauskas is just the latest adversary to be left angered by an encounter with Pachulia.

“He gets under guys’ skin because he works so hard, and it never fails,” Hawks forward Josh Smith said.