Lakers star LeBron James roasted by Marcin Gortat over 'crying' to referees
30/04/2024 22:09
On Monday evening, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers saw their 2023-24 season officially come to an unceremonious conclusion with a 108-106 loss to the Denver Nuggets in Game 5 of the first round series between the two teams, marking the second straight postseason that the Nuggets had sent the Lakers to Cancun. James played very well for large portions of this series, as did costar Anthony Davis, who at times looked like the best player on the floor, but ultimately it was the Lakers’ supporting cast–particularly Rui Hachimura and D’Angelo Russell–who let them down, not closely resembling their regular season selves at times vs Denver.
As the season winded down this year, James spent some of the little free time he had taking part in the “Mind The Game” podcast with former NBA shooting guard JJ Redick, which provided NBA fans who were interested in hearing about the sport being just cliche talking points with an outlet for that yearning.
One topic that came up during a recent episode was the “Gortat screen,” which refers to the propensity of former Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat to first set a screen for the ball-handler, and then seal off the next defender in line, effectively giving the ball-handler a clear path to the rim, which some fans see as illegal.
Gortat himself recently responded to the “shoutout” during an appearance on the “Point Game Podcast” with his former Wizards point guard John Wall, who was a beneficiary of many a Gortat screen.
“You know what, I mentioned obviously, right after he said that I had like 20 phone calls from Polish media,” said Gortat, per Point Game with John Wall and CJ Toledano. “Like aren't you excited LeBron James spoke about you? I was like, listen man, I hope he was speaking about me like that when I was setting screens on him because last time I remember he was crying you know, crying to the refs that I was setting moving screens.”
Gortat also recalled his experience trying to teach the play to a young Shai Gilgeous-Alexander during his time with the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Later on I'm going to L.A. and I'm saying ‘hey Shai, did you see what I was doing with John?’ (Shai said) 'Yeah, yeah, unbelievable.' I'm like alright Shai you think you could do the same thing,” said Gortat. “He's like ‘yeah, yeah I'm going to do it.’ Man, listen I've been doing this thing for like 5 months man, this guy couldn't even do it one time man, not even one time.”
An important offseason for LA
Oddly enough, lack of center depth was an area that was thoroughly exposed in the Lakers’ first round loss to the Nuggets. While Gortat himself is probably past the point of his playing days, the knowledge of the Gortat screen is still clearly prevalent and could potentially be something that the Lakers using to get James some more easier angles at the rim as he approaches the age of 40.
In any case, the Lakers will now look forward to free agency and the NBA draft.
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