Accident or not, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is seething over Golden State Warriors forward Zaza Pachulia's close out on Spurs star Kawhi Leonard in the third quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals that caused Leonard to leave the game with an ankle injury.

"A two-step, lead-with-your-foot close out is not appropriate," Popovich told gathered media on Monday. "It's dangerous, it's unsportsmanlike. It's just not what anybody does to anybody else. 

As Leonard attempted a three-pointer, Pachulia's foot came under Leonard's as he landed, causing the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year to roll his ankle. Though the Spurs led by 23 points at the time, the Warriors stormed back to beat the Spurs 113-111. Leonard finished with 26 points in the 24 minutes that he played.

This marked the third time in Leonard's last three games that he rolled over on his ankle. The 25-year-old native of Los Angeles did not play in the Spurs' series-clinching Game 6 victory over the Houston Rockets in the previous round.

Asked if he felt the was accidental, Popovich said that intent didn't matter.

"He didn’t have intent - who gives a damn about what his intent was?" Popovich said. "You ever heard of manslaughter? You still go to jail, I think, if you’re Texan and you kill somebody. And you might not have intended to do that. All I care is what I saw. All I care about is what happened. And the history there exacerbates the whole situation and makes me very, very angry."

Popovich cited Pachulia's previous history of questionable play as proof of the 14-year pro's culpability.

"This particular individual has a history with that type of action," Popovich said. "You can go back and in Dallas games [when Pachulia was a Maverick] when 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. Ask [former Spurs forward] David West, his current teammate, how things went when Zaza was playing for Dallas and he and David got into it. And then think about the history he's had and what that means to a team what happened last night - a totally unnatural close out the league has outlawed years ago and has paid great attention to it."

Leonard has already been ruled out of Game 2, but Popovich remained defiant.

"You want to know how we feel about it?" Popovich said. "You want to know if that lessens our chances or not? We're playing, very possibly, the best team in the league. We don't know what's going to happen in the East and 9.75 people out of 10 would figure the Warriors will beat the Spurs. Well, we've had a pretty damn good season. We've played fairly well in the playoffs. I think we're getting better and we were up 23 points in the third quarter against Golden State. And Kawhi goes down - like that. And you want to know if our chances are less? And you want to know how we feel? That's how we feel."

Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals is set for Tuesday night at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.