Charles Barkley has the favorite to win this year’s NBA Finals.
But if the Celtics can’t accomplish that this year, the Pro Basketball Hall of Famer said he thinks it’ll be because of the legendary choke.
Before Thursday’s game, Barkley appeared on “Inside the NBA” and said the Celtics are the favorites to win it all, with a seven-game lead in the Eastern Conference after a 115-109 win over the Nuggets. he said.
He said if Boston doesn’t accept everything, there will be chaos.
“If we don’t win this year, it’s going to be a total gag,” Barkley said of the Celtics on TNT’s pregame show. “Because they have everything.”
The Celtics have been at the top the last few seasons, losing to the Warriors in the 2022 NBA Finals and losing to the underdog Heat in a heartbreaking seven-game series last year in the Eastern Conference Finals.
And after some backlash from the rest of the program, Barkley explained why the Celtics are so strong as they prepare for the rest of the season.
“Hey, come on. You have [Jayson] tatum [Jaylen] Jrue Holiday Brown — Ernie [Johnson], the rotation is going to shrink during the playoffs, so the bench isn’t as important as you think,” Barkley responded. “They’ve got everything. They’ve got Brown and Tatum, probably two of the best 10 players in the league. They’ve got a great leader in Jrue Holiday, even if he’s the starter. You probably have the best sixth man – what I’m talking about is [Kristaps] Porzingis, I’m not even counting Derrick White.
“Porzingis is probably the best guy on a team in the NBA who isn’t No. 1 or No. 2. And you can throw Derrick White in there. It would be shocking if the Celtics didn’t win.”
Entering Thursday night, Tatum was 10th in the league with 27.1 points per game, while Brown ranked 24th with 22.4 points per game.
Barkley said the strong combination is better than other teams in the East, including the second-place Bucks, Jalen Brunson and the Knicks.
“There’s no team that scares you other than the Celtics. There’s no team in Milwaukee that scares you. [Giannis Antetokounmpo] and [Damian Lillard], but no one is afraid of them. They are not very athletic. The Knicks are not going to be healthy,” Barkley said.
The Knicks have been without Julius Randle since he dislocated his shoulder against the Heat on Jan. 27, and All-Star Jalen Brunson has been in and out of the lineup over the last month.
The Bucks have gone 6-1 since the All-Star break under new head coach Doc Rivers, but with the Celtics in a good position at the top, it will likely take them a long time to defeat them. This is reminiscent of Berkeley’s point.
