Say this about Charles Barkley: when he makes a prediction, he makes sure his foot is in easy access of his mouth.
Which is to say that even when his prognosticative abilities let him down -- and remember he once said the Warriors played "little girly basketball" -- he never runs from them.
Exhibit A: last spring, Barkley pronounced that the Clippers would reach the conference finals. And they might have, had not the Warriors taken them down in six games.
Exhibit B: Barkley, in the wake of Kevin Durant's calf strain heard 'round the betting parlors, said the Warriors were doomed in their playoff series against Houston. The Warriors won. In six. Further, Barkley said that even if the Warriors beat Houston, they would not get past Portland or Denver. The Dubs met Portland and won. In four.
Give credit where it's due -- the loveable knuckle-head never claimed to have been misquoted (a tactic he tried with his autobiography); he never arrived for his assignments wearing a fake nose and glasses to throw off the haters; and like any confident and volume shooter he just kept on hoisting.
Thursday night he was at it again at halftime of the Warriors' season lid-lifter against the Clippers at the Chase Center. On the TNT set, with special guest Klay Thompson, Barkley took on the TV sports muse equivalent of a bunny.
Thompson, despite all that has happened to the Warriors since last June, clung tight to the glass half full.
"Our window to win another championship, I think, is open for the next five, six years," said Thompson who (a) is recovering from ACL surgery, and (b) is on record as desiring to play into his late 30s.
"Well, No. 1," Barkley said, "I hope you get back soon, but you're just wrong. I was wrong before the game. I said [the Warriors] going to be the 7-8 seed. They're not going to make the playoffs because they just can't score enough."
What is it they say about libel? That the truth is a valid defense? In the first 3:14 of the season the Warriors fell into a 14-0 hole. Draymond Green had to leave the game momentarily after suffering some kind of forearm injury.
Barkley revved into another gear.
"When you look at your team, you say 'OK, Steph can get me 30. D'Angelo [Russell] can get me 20," Barkley said. "Draymond, even though he's a heck of a player, he's only going to get me 15.' That's not enough in the Western Conference. This year."
"Chuck has the right to be a little pessimistic," Thompson said. "But I think these young guys are going to step up."
Sports on 10/26/2019