When taking bets for the Super-est Super Villain of all the Warriors, not many would have put money on journeyman center Zaza Pachulia.

The Warriors earned that designation in the offseason, when they signed Kevin Durant as a free agent and morphed from plucky newcomers into unstoppable machine, complete with a cast of potential villains. Like Durant or Draymond Green or even Matt Barnes, who would draw some betting action.

But Pachulia is now the one burning up both the Internet and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s cool. And he has given the world outside the Bay Area a reason to root against the Warriors.

It’s difficult for the Warriors’ adoring fans to understand, but the rest of the world doesn’t love their team the way they do. The dislike probably started with the team’s historic regular-season run last year, the lofty comparisons to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls, Green’s postseason antics, owner Joe Lacob’s pronouncement that the Warriors were “light years ahead” of other teams. It all culminated with the signing of Durant, a move that was somehow, laughably, seen as cheating.

And now we have Pachulia, who crowded Spurs star Kawhi Leonard on a shot in Sunday’s Game 1 of the Warriors-Spurs Western Conference finals. Leonard landed on Pachulia’s foot and left the game after again spraining his left ankle. The Warriors trailed by 23 points at that point but came back to win 113-111.

Popovich came out guns blazing at Spurs practice Monday morning, eviscerating Pachulia as a player and a human being.

“It’s dangerous, it’s unsportsmanlike,” he said. “This particular individual has a history with that kind of action.”

It’s true that Pachulia has a reputation for physical play; just watch him careening around the court and you’re not surprised that he comes with a history of banging and bumping. He inadvertently took out his teammate Durant in February while taking a spill, leading to the star’s knee injury that sidelined him for more than a month.

But calling someone dirty or unsportsmanlike implies intent.

“Because he has this history, it can’t just be, ‘Oh, it was inadvertent,’” Popovich went on. “Who gives a damn about what the intent was? You ever heard of manslaughter?”

Whoa. Deep breaths, everybody.

Popovich is an intimidating presence on the best of days and this was him at his most intimidating. He wants to not only protect his player, he also wants to send a loud and angry message to the league and to the officials who will work the rest of the series. Those officials are cowed by Popovich, like most everyone else.

“He wants to win,” said David West, who was with the Spurs last season. “He’ll do or say whatever.”

Popovich also wants to divert attention from the disheartening loss. And get inside Pachulia’s head, hoping to render the Warriors’ starting center ineffective or cautious. Popovich’s anger will fuel the fans in San Antonio, who are sure to let Pachulia know he is Super Villain No. 1 every time he is on the court in Games 3 and 4 there.

“I don’t think it will affect him,” Warriors acting head coach Mike Brown said. “Maybe if he was a young guy. But Zaza’s mature.”

The Spurs lost their best player for much of the second half of Game 1 and for Tuesday’s Game 2 and perhaps for longer, though Leonard will have a five-day layoff before Saturday’s Game 3. The Spurs blew a 25-point first-half lead. They have their backs to the wall, and Popovich knows it.

“Think about what happened last night — a totally unnatural closeout that the league outlawed years ago, and pays great attention to,” Popovich said.

He omitted the fact that the league outlawed the play, where a defender slides into a shooter’s space and impedes his landing, in large part because of the behavior of Bruce Bowen — a player whom Popovich coached and defended.

“Dirty,” like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

“It’s always someone’s personal opinion,” Green said.

The truth is that Leonard was playing hampered from the beginning of this series. He missed the late part of Game 5 against the Houston Rockets in the previous series and all of Game 6, which the Spurs won easily without him to finish off Houston. On Sunday, Leonard rolled his tender ankle stepping on his teammate David Lee — who was sitting on the bench — 49 seconds before the Pachulia play. After that, the odds of Leonard making it through the rest of the game without reinjuring the ankle seemed slim.

Brown noted that about 30 seconds after the controversial play, a similar play happened at the other end, when Stephen Curry shot with LaMarcus Aldridge defending. Brown asked the officials why a foul wasn’t called. He was told it was because Leonard landed on Pachulia while Curry fell to avoid landing on Aldridge.

“You go back and watch the film, they’re both identical,” Brown said, with his own piece of gamesmanship.

A Warriors official said he was told by the league that there would be no follow-up, such as a fine for Pachulia.

Still, Pachulia’s moment is being replayed everywhere. Complaints about the “boring” playoffs have stopped. Network analysts are throwing around terms like “flagrant” and “outrageous” in a bid to hype interest and ratings.

The respected and injured Spurs have become a sentimental favorite, while the world has been waiting for a solid reason to lash out at the heavily favored Warriors.

Zaza. The Super Villain.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @annkillion