Normally I like Charles Barkley, but screw him and his family.

[gatorpops]

What bugged me was not that he predicted Phoenix would win. After all, they are the higher seed. Although he had no business saying no one in Portland predicts the Blazers will win; obviously not true.

What really bugged me was after the game how he kept talking about how disappointed he was in the Suns not showing mental toughness. How about a word, just ONE WORD of praise for the mental toughness the Blazers showed? On the road, after the other road teams had gone 0-7, without their best player, or their two centers, with guys like Bayless having to carry a load they are not used to, with everything going wrong that last 1:45 STILL won the game.

I hate to be CB's defense, but he is not very "smooth" when he comments and when he said "no one in Portland" he probably meant "no one outside of Portland expects them to win".

I thought the whole group of ESPN were hard pressed to give the Blazers their due. This game was planned and played to perfection for the most part. Great win Blazers.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Respect is earned (minus having a young superstar that captures the imagination and attention of the national press like Durant). If the Blazers manage to win this series then we can start to expect more national guys to take note, but it isn't going to happen before then and in Charles' case it still probably won't happen.

 

[HailBlazers]

Sir Charles has no fucking clue what Blazer basketball is, or how it's played. But then again, he lives in Phoenix

Exactly, That's why you can't take him seriously. He's just another ignorant fan

 

[crandc]

I agree, respect is earned. And living outside Portland area, I mostly hear the national (or Bay Area) media flacks. And guess what? Most of them heap respect on this year's Blazers. With all the injuries, to win 50 games is quite an accomplishment. Many say this team should not even be .500. A local sportswriter who has loathed the Blazers since the Drexler days wrote in his prediction that Phoenix would win (surprise!) but it would take 6 games since this Portland team never gives up.

This Blazers team has earned respect and they definitely earned some last night. Barkely is losing my respect if he can't just admit that Portland out-played and out-hustled and probably out-prepared the Suns.

 

[Minstrel]

Normally I find Barkley lacking in insight but last night...nothing changed. He continues to speak in cliches. He was a great player, but he's a fairly useless analyst. A lot of posters on this site provide interesting takes more regularly than Barkley.

"The better team" has to come out "and punch the other team in the mouth" and "say 'we're going to here all night whuppin' your ass'?"

So...his analysis, sans tired sports cliches and posturing, boils down to...the better team has to outplay their opponent? Preferably outplay them all game long and by a lot? That's why he's paid the big bucks. I'm surprised he's not an NBA coach.

On another note, I wasn't perturbed by him calling the Suns the better team. I think, if both teams are at full strength, Portland is easily superior. But minus their best player and a really valuable one in Oden, Phoenix is probably a bit better (though not having Lopez does narrow the gap a little). I don't think that's an insult...the West is tight enough that any playoff team losing their best player (let alone another of their three best) should be considered inferior, on paper, to the rest of the field.

That said, Portland has been remarkably resilient all season and definitely seem to be mentally tough. While I am sometimes a critic of McMillan, this is where he shines IMO: keeping the team focused like a laser beam even when facing serious adversity.

 

[STOMP]

He said, "Nobody, and I mean Nobody, in Portland thinks the Blazers can win this series."

who is he referring to? Quick Canzano and Jaynes? Henry Abbot predicted a Blazer win, lots of Blazer fans predicted a Blazer win... Blazer players live in Portland and probably give themselves a decent shot.

I'm guessing that this is one of those cases where if you don't agree with PHX resident Barkley, he thinks you're a nobody. I'm going to file this comment away under Whatever...

STOMP

 

[Ed O]

What bugged me was not that he predicted Phoenix would win. After all, they are the higher seed. Although he had no business saying no one in Portland predicts the Blazers will win; obviously not true.

What really bugged me was after the game how he kept talking about how disappointed he was in the Suns not showing mental toughness. How about a word, just ONE WORD of praise for the mental toughness the Blazers showed? On the road, after the other road teams had gone 0-7, without their best player, or their two centers, with guys like Bayless having to carry a load they are not used to, with everything going wrong that last 1:45 STILL won the game.

This is exactly correct and how I feel, too.

Ed O.

 

[BIG Q]

I went to the game so I did not get to catch Chucks act last night. I will tell you that Chuck is not thought of as a Suns fan down here. He is actually pretty hated and known as a Suns hater.

My thoughts on it is I am sure Chucks analysis is half parts laziness and half parts experience. It sounds as if he did little to no research on the strengths of the Blazers and what they had done to the Suns in the previous three gams. But Chuck is no fool, he may act like one, but he knows the NBA has set up the playoffs for zero upsets. That is the last thing they want unless NY, CHI or LA are a lower seed. He knows that the league will help the Suns advance. He just can't say that.

 

[Nate Dogg]

After the game Charles Barkley made the right call last night. Portland is a "Pretender playoff team" without a "low post skeme offense". We won't be a "contender" team until KP or PA figure out how to fix our low post offense.

 

[44Thrilla]

Barkey should be fired. He's obviously still too bitter about us not trading for him to see things rationally. What a fucking piece of shit. Even after we won, all he kept saying was "when you're obviously a better team blahablahablahfhfBSLGHWK". Suck a fuckin dick chucky. His job is to be unbiased, and he obviously isnt capable of doing that.

whoops

 

[hasoos]

Kind of reminds me of this...

[video=youtube;CDDXxaoxMj4]

 

[DaRizzle]

His job is to be unbiased, and he obviously isnt capable of doing that.

no its not...hes not a news reporter

 

[huevonkiller]

Chuck is raw.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

My main beef with CB is that he does ZERO preparation for the games he's supposed to be "analyzing". I've heard him says that a role player he didn't know couldn't shoot, because hey, if he could, Charles would have heard of him, right? Well, if he would check the stats, said role player shoots over 40% from the 3. He should at least check the stats of the players in the games before his analysis, he doesn't know all of the players names. His opinions are based on no intelligible facts, just his gut feelings.

Of course, he's better than Barry...