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

I want Game 2 more than I wanted Game 1.

I had so much confidence that we'd win Game 1.

I think we're winning Game 2, too. We're at least going to put ourselves in position to win it.

 

When they put him out to pasture, make it the Fat Farm. Here is the post-game show.

http://www.nba.com/insidethenba/?c=InsidetheNBA-MostRecent&p=503467&s=5039640&i=580216

 

Wait... what?!

 

Maybe Charles should focus on getting his dick sucked by a hooker and leave the basketball analysis to us. Obviously he should play to his strengths.

 

Come on guys. You guys are all being too harsh on the man's homerism.

I personally feel Barkley is a fan of the Blazers but has this older player mentality of only praising us once we've proven it.

If he made fun of us or of our players, that's one thing. But he doesn't. Instead, he seems to buy into the idea of us only winning the championship if we had our superstar, Roy, and a low post presence. He buys into success for the Portland Trailblazers if we sort ourselves out. He's respectful of Oden and says he likes him. Also, he's mentioned that if he could return in the league, he'd play for the Blazers because of its fanbase.

I don't think he hates this team at all.

 

What planet are you from?

Seriously, I watched the post game show and he is clearly a Suns apologist. He had 101 excuses for his team losing and never bothered to mention how thin we are at center and how we just took it to Phoenix. Rather, he states how superior Phoenix is and how they let us hang around... Rather than stating the obvious, that Portland was the better team last night, it's all about his excuses.

 

Kenny Vance said last night that Barkley talked earlier this week about why he's bitter towards the Blazers. When it looked like we were going to pull the trigger on the trade to bring him here, he bought a first class ticket for him and his agent. The Blazers ended up passing on the deal, and he thinks the Blazers still owe him $1200.

 

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.

 

He doesn't like the Blazers. He's never given us props.

 

What Chuck said was that the far superior team (Phoenix) needs to get out and crush the inferior team (Portland) early and break their spirit. He blamed the Suns for letting Portland "hang around and think they have a chance" instead of building a double-digit lead early in the game.

Sir Charles has no fucking clue what Blazer basketball is, or how it's played. But then again, he lives in Phoenix, so I'm not surprised by his attitude.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

whoops