The NBA on TNT crew is a jovial group for the most part, laughing with — and at — each other nearly as much as providing actual basketball analysis. But things got serious on Tuesday night as the Warriors-Pelicans playoff game went to halftime. As a clip of Draymond Green and Rajon Rondo jawing played, Charles Barkley, referring to Golden State’s point forward/tough guy repeatedly said “I want to punch him in the face.” That escalated quickly!
As Kenny Smith tried to pry for a motive from Barkley, Shaq jumped in with a chuckle. “Kenny, Kenny, just leave him be when he’s like this.” Barkley didn’t back down from his statement and the crew laughed it up. OK, so even when discussing a potential physical assault on a player, these guys have a good time (The night before, Shaq threw a huge fish at Barkley, almost causing him to fall over).
Draymond Green, however, was not as amused. Here was his reaction after being told about Barkley’s comments on TNT.
Green makes a valiant point about this Twitter generation of fake bravado, but if he brushed up on Barkley, he’d know there’s nothing phony about this NBA Hall-of-Famer’s bluster. Barkley, after all, is a man who once threw someone through a plate-glass window in a bar fight. So yeah. . . it’s probably best these two are kept away from each other for awhile.
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