Who is Zach Collins, and why are the Warriors mad at him?

Tom Gatto

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Who is Zach Collins, and why are the Warriors mad at him? image

Before Wednesday night, Zach Collins was a mostly anonymous second-year center for the Trail Blazers. After Wednesday, he's the archenemy of the champion Warriors and a Twitter star.

Slight exaggeration, but Collins did make a few gold-clad All-Stars mad with his play and his talking, not necessarily in that order, in Portland's 129-107 victory.

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The unpleasantness piled up in the fourth quarter as Collins:

Made a massive chasedown block. (Collins said postgame that he was giving as well as he was getting.)

Cussed out Klay Thompson after drawing an offensive foul on him. (The video is really NSFW if you can read lips.)

Drew a Flagrant 1 foul on Draymond Green that led to Golden State coach Steve Kerr's ejection and a game-deciding Portland run.

Chatted up the Warriors' reserves during garbage time with Portland up big, as Thompson, Green and Kevin Durant were barking at him from the bench.

The 7-0 Collins, 21, has played in all 57 of the Blazers' games this season. He's averaging 6.8 points (47.3 percent shooting), 4.3 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 18.2 minutes as a backup.

The Gonzaga product and the reigning champs won't see each other again unless they meet in the playoffs. With the Warriors the top seed in the West and the Blazers fourth heading into the All-Star break, they're on track to meet in the second round.

Tom Gatto

Tom Gatto Photo

Tom Gatto joined The Sporting News as a senior editor in 2000 after 12 years at The Herald-News in Passaic, N.J., where he served in a variety of roles including sports editor, and a brief spell at APBNews.com in New York, where he worked as a syndication editor. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of South Carolina.