Gortat: Celtics 'want to provoke us,' Bradley threatened to beat me up
The second-round series between the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics has fallen somewhere between "chippy" and "90s-style slugfest," producing a litany of scuffles, dust-ups, chirps, technicals, flagrants, and vendettas over the course of its first four games.
Related: Ranking all the beefs between Wizards, Celtics this season
Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas explained the bad blood in simple terms after Game 3, saying, "We don't like them and they don't like us."
But Wizards center Marcin Gortat thinks the notion of mutual disdain is just "a popular story with the media," and that the Celtics have been the chief instigators.
"We play tougher, but only care about our own team, while they want to provoke us," Gortat said Tuesday, as translated by Polish ESPN correspondent Bartosz Bielecki.
"Avery Bradley approached me last game, and said that if I set one more (hard) screen, he's going to beat me up."
Gortat said he refused to engage with the Celtics shooting guard, although he also described issuing a decidedly condescending dismissal.
"I laughed him off. I advised him to come back when he grows up and gains some weight," Gortat said. "It's really the Celtics who get excited with this. In other words, they build their unity around their dislike of Wizards players."
Game 5 goes in Boston on Wednesday night.