As we approach the final month of the NBA’s regular season, there’s little drama regarding who will come out on top of the Eastern Conference, as the Boston Celtics have created a huge gap between themselves and the rest of the pack.
In the West, though, it appears like it will be a race all the way to the end for the No. 1 seed, as well as battles throughout the standings for playoff and Play-In positioning. With the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and Oklahoma City Thunder all playing on TNT on Thursday night, the Inside the NBA crew discussed those standings and who they thought would come out on top, as the Thunder are fighting with the Nuggets and Timberwolves for that top spot.
Charles Barkley started his thoughts on the matter by taking some shots at TNT’s “sister network” ESPN, calling out the “idiots” over there who keep talking about the Lakers and Warriors “like they got a chance” when they are in 9th and 10th.
That led to Shaq pointing out they do technically have a chance because of the Play-In, which Barkley called “not real” and compared it to the CBI in college basketball. He said they should be thanking Adam Silver for making it up “so the Lakers and Warriors can get in.” It’s a great Chuck rant, because it is both funny and pretty accurate. The Lakers and Warriors do take up an awful lot of conversation on the four-letter’s shows, which is both unsurprising as they’re two of the league’s most popular franchises and a bit frustrating to fans of other teams. Barkley always loves when he can take a jab at another network, and in this case he got to do that and get in a brief Play-In rant thanks to Shaq.