The Golden State Warriors are 72-9 on the season and are one win away from being immortals in the history books.
That hasn’t stopped Charles Barkley from believing that the Warriors would be booted out of the playoffs in the second round if they run into the Los Angeles Clippers, a team the Warriors went 4-0 against this season. His primary reason: Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan would maul the Warriors.
In fact, Barkley went as far as to say that he guarantees the Warriors will not win the championship this season. Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group transcribed what Barkley had to say on Inside the NBA:
“If the Golden State Warriors win a championship, I will get on my knees and congratulate them. Because let me tell you something. Regardless of what y’all say, if you go back and actually look at the playoffs last year, they did not play one team that was healthy in the playoffs.”
Barkley also said the Warriors beat the Cleveland Cavaliers last year in the Finals because LeBron James was tired. He followed that statement by saying he takes nothing away from what the Warriors have been able to do.
Evan Fournier, who has often praised the abilities of Stephen Curry on twitter, saw what Barkley had to say and said what everyone else, including the crew on TNT (Kenny Smith was more vocal about it), had on their minds:
Damn Chuck is really hating on the Warriors lol #nbaontnt
— Evan Fournier (@EvanFourmizz) April 13, 2016
Many who doubted the legitimacy of the Warriors from last season have gone completely silent this season with good reason. All but Barkley, that is.
Jim Park is a blogger and Tweet of the Night author of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.