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Credit: ESPN
After the New York Knicks completed a historic comeback to take down the San Antonio Spurs 115-111 in Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, ESPN Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley unloaded on the Spurs. Barkley referred to San Antonio as “the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization” after their historic collapse.
“We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization!” Barkley said on Wednesday night’s Inside the NBA. “They had a 25-point lead, took eight straight threes. That was some of the most mismanaged, stupid basketball.”
“Hey, when you blow a 29-point lead, the other team has to help you,” Barkley elaborated. “The San Antonio Spurs helped the New York Knicks win this game by doing some of the [most] stupid-ass stuff I’ve ever seen on a basketball court.”
Shortly into Saturday night’s edition of ESPN’s NBA Tip-Off ahead of Game of the 5 NBA Finals in San Antonio, Barkley addressed his comments and offered more clarity.
Barkley noted that he has “a couple of NBA coaches calling [him]” and proceeded to explain how he was referring to only the Spurs’ players, not San Antonio head coach Mitch Johnson.
“I got a couple of NBA coaches calling me, and I want to be clear. Crystal clear,” Barkley said. “So, when I said it was really dumb basketball the other night, I was talking about the players. I want to make it clear that I wasn’t talking about Coach Johnson. I think Coach Johnson is a really good young coach; got a really, really bright future.”
“Number one, I want to support him, because he’s a Black coach,” Barkley continued. “We don’t have many Black head coaches in the NBA. So, I want to make that crystal clear… It was the players out there doing some dumb stuff.”
“What do you mean by that- not the coaches had anything to do with it, just the players? Explain,” Inside the NBA analyst Kenny Smith said.
“Well, the coach, the only thing I think he could have did different was call some timeouts,” Barkley explained. “But he did not shoot that ball like (De’Aaron) Fox… He didn’t draw up nine three-point plays in a row… The players were doing dumb stuff. Not the coach.”
“The coach’s job, to me, is to instill discipline.” Inside the NBA analyst Shaquille O’Neal interjected. “And his team had no discipline.”
“But I just want to make it clear that I was talking about the players,” Barkley added. “I don’t want to be criticizing young Black coaches. We need more young Black coaches in the NBA. But there were some players out there doing dumb stuff. And I want to make that crystal clear. So, if Coach Johnson took my comments personally, I want to apologize to him.”
It’s interesting that NBA coaches have contacted Barkley about the comments and also that he chose to address and clarify his comments. Nobody on television stands on their comments more — or cares what critics think less — than Barkley, so for him to take the time to clarify what he meant to say days later, he must have a lot of respect for both Johnson and the NBA coaches who contacted him.
Still, when a team blows a 29-point, second-half lead in the NBA Finals, it should be fair to question the person who is leading the players, at least for that particular game.
The post Charles Barkley clarifies Spurs ‘dumbest basketball team’ comments after NBA coaches call him appeared first on Awful Announcing.
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