San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard was injured on Sunday during Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals when Golden State center Zaza Pachulia stepped underneath him while he was attempting a fadeaway jumper.Leonard, who was already dealing with an ankle injury and missed Game 6 of the conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets, was unable to return to the game and had to watch as his team blew a huge lead.Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was furious with Pachulia on Monday as his team prepared for Tuesday's Game 2 without their star.In the video below, Popovich goes off on what he felt was a dirty play by Pachulia while speaking to reporters on Monday:

"This particular individual has a history with that kind of action," Popovich said. "You can look back at Dallas games where he got a flagrant 2 for elbowing Patty Mills. The play where he took Kawhi down and locked his arm in Dallas and could have broken his arm.

"Think about the history he's had and what that means to a team, what happened last night. Totally unnatural closeout that the league has outlawed years ago and pays great attention to."

Obviously, Pop is going to defend his players, but it's clear he's no fan of Pachulia's and has a long memory when it comes to Zaza injuring Spurs.

Pachulia responded to Popovich's claims later on Monday, telling ESPN.com he didn't mean to injure Leonard and was just playing tough defense:

"My approach to this game for 14 years that I've been in the league is to play hard and [give] 100 percent of whatever I have," Pachulia said in response to Popovich on Monday after practice. "So I don't agree with the calls that I'm a dirty player. I'm not a dirty player. I love this game, and I'm playing hard. That's what I was taught since day one."

Though it's impossible to tell what Pachulia's intent was on the Game 1 play, he does seem to have a history of similar incidents.

Therefore, even if he is just playing hard defense, it's defense that the NBA has deemed illegal. If he doesn't change the way he closes out on shooters or show better control of his body on plays like that in the future, he'll have the "dirty" label follow him around for the rest of his career.

Fair or not, Pachulia now has a reputation as a guy who is overly aggressive on defense. He'll have to work hard to change that perception.