State of Pachulia

In Georgia (the state), Zaza Pachulia is a Hawks accessory, a big man off the bench voted most likely to make it look hard.

In Georgia (the republic), Pachulia’s small homeland and reliable geography bee stumper, he is a celebrity.

He is the one in 5 million Georgians who draws an NBA paycheck. Add his new wife, a former member of the country’s national dance troupe, and the two of them could qualify as the Black Sea Brangelina.

These athletes from elsewhere are often among the most interesting of all, yet are the ones most difficult for the American audience to appreciate.

Pachulia finally made some kind of mark with Atlantans at the end of last season. Not with the power of his considerable personality. Nor by any particular heroic shot or rebound while working on his four-year Hawks average of 9 points and 6 rebounds a game.

Rather, his popularity spiked in last season’s playoff series with Boston when he got so far up into Kevin Garnett’s grill that the Celtics team dentist got jealous.

“In our country, he already was extremely well known,” said Nina Tukridze, acquainted with Pachulia through their work with the Atlanta-Tbilisi sister city committee. “The Atlanta community didn’t know Zaza so well. All of a sudden, they knew Zaza.”

Reacting to what he thought was an inappropriate elbow in Game 4 of the series, Pachulia went brow to brow with the fearsome KG. The Philips Arena crowd in turn went DEFCON 1, and his teammates responded by taking the eventual champions to seven games.

“Georgians are crazy,” Pachulia said afterward, meaning those from Tbilisi, not Tifton.

“He basically represented our team. He wasn’t going to back down, wasn’t afraid of Garnett and those ‘mean’ Celtics,” the Hawks’ Al Horford said. Nearly a year later, when considering all that has happened over that span, Pachulia is highly amused with the impact of one moment of posturing.

“I have birthday —- nobody calls,” he begins, a smile growing.

“I get married —- nobody calls.

“I have son —- nobody calls.

“I head-butt Kevin Garnett —- everybody calls.”

Beyond fashion

But what about the man behind the head-butt? To leave his story there is to miss all the finer points.

Even what he is chiefly known for off the court —- being a 6-foot-11 clotheshorse —- doesn’t do much more than scratch the hand-stitched silk surface.

His interest in fashion is refined enough to have earned him a little corner in Hoop Magazine (next issue, NBA fashion critic Pachulia considers Joe Johnson’s wardrobe). Still, he’ll be the first to tell you how superficial all that can be.

When considering the photo possibilities for this story, it was suggested Pachulia pose in his closet, surrounded by designer wear. He declined, suggesting that in the current economic climate, it would be wrong to show off fancy clothing.

He seems older than his 25 years, and everyone’s fooled.

“In past years, he’s gotten on me: ‘Hey coach, I’m still young, still trying to learn. I think you treat me like I’ve been in the league eight years,’ ” Mike Woodson said. “And he was right.”

Growing up fast was a chosen course. By 15, Pachulia had moved to Turkey at the invitation of an Istanbul pro team, Ulker. He was the youngest professional in Eurasia, playing against grown men.

“I always dreamed about the NBA, but there was no way to go from Georgia to the NBA, no way. Turkey was one step closer to this dream,” he said.

Just as Pachulia was making the leap from teen to pro, his father, Davit, died of a heart attack at the age of 41. A 6-foot-7 judo master, Davit had a presence that dominated Pachulia’s life. Now, the only child, Pachulia was the man of the family, the position his father had always told him was paramount.

Pachulia would grow into the role of provider and pro with the help of his mother, Marina, a former power forward back home. The NBA did call, when he was drafted in the second round by Orlando in 2003. Taken by Charlotte in the expansion draft in 2004 and quickly traded to Milwaukee, Pachulia landed in Atlanta as a 2005 free agent.

Nearly a decade had passed since his father’s death when Pachulia himself became a father last October.

“I wanted a little boy,” he said. “When we had a boy, there was no question, no one even asked me what we were going to name him. It was automatic.”

Welcome to the world, young Davit.

Living and learning

There is an amalgam of cultures working the low post for the Hawks, between the Dominican-born Horford and Pachulia.

The Pachulia stew is particularly thick. His Atlanta townhome is decorated with such disparate images as the “Scarface” posters downstairs and the African art upstairs. Because he loves the water and the multicultural vibe, he has an offseason home in Miami.

When Pachulia decided to marry a dancer (last May), she would be a very specific kind. She would be versed in Georgia’s native folk dances, this achingly pretty Tina he met after a summertime performance in Georgia (the republic) in 2006. Uprooted at such a young age, he was reconnecting in the most important way with someone who could understand where he was from and help pass along that sense of identity to his children.

Tina’s also the sensible one. There were close to 20,000 people howling their approval that night when Pachulia compared craniums with Garnett.

“Only one person who was screaming, ‘No!’ My wife,” he laughed.

He is the jokester —- “a clown,” Horford said —- who is always needling teammates.

Yet he can be grimly serious when necessary. Last summer, when Russia invaded Georgia, he helped raise relief funds and spoke passionately about his country’s plight on CNN and at an Atlanta rally (there are approximately 2,000 native Georgians here).

On the court, what fans need to see come the playoffs is the Pachulia who slowly came to grips with his reduced playing time once Horford arrived. Struggling mightily with that last season —- his minutes-per-game slipping to 15 from 28 the season before (back up to 19 now) —- Pachulia didn’t really snap out of a funk until that Boston series.

“[Last season] was difficult. I didn’t want to accept it. I have to blame myself, too,” he said. “The playoffs showed me a lot of things, how great it is to be on a team that brings excitement. That taught me a lot.”

Pachulia’s situation may soon change, given that this is the last year of his contract and he still must shop for minutes and money. For now, though, “it’s working out coming off the bench, giving the team energy, making hustle plays. The fans seem to like it. We have the results. Why shake it up when it’s going good?”

With another playoff series looming, Georgians (of both the state and the republic) are expecting certain things of Pachulia. Time to bring the full package of skill and skull.

NEXT FOR HAWKS

> Who: vs. Lakers

> When: 3:30 p.m. today

> TV; radio: SportSouth; 790 AM

 JEMAL R. BRINSON / Staff
Map locates the country of Georgia. Inset map outlines area of detail relative to Europe, Africa and Asia.