Aside from the great, high-level basketball that is played on a nightly basis, one of the biggest reasons NBA fans look forward to the playoffs is because of Inside The NBA on TNT. During the regular season, the show only goes live once or twice a week. But during playoff season, we hear from Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, and Ernie Johnson on a nightly basis, and get to see even more of their antics.
Last night, during their halftime report of the Miami Heat-Atlanta Hawks game, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley began an impromptu foot race from their desks to the big screen. It was a surprisingly even race for the NBA veterans, but Kenny Smith just barely squeezed away with the victory. Ernie Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal laughed about the entire situation, joking that Barkley almost got the win.
Shaquille O’Neal: “You almost had him Chucky!”
This is far from the only race that Charles Barkley has had on television. Barkley once raced off against Inside The NBA on TNT’s head of security, which he won relatively easily despite the head of security’s confidence. In 2007, Charles Barkley had an iconic full-court race against veteran NBA referee Dick Bavetta at the All-Star game. Barkley won that race comfortably, finishing the winning stretch while running backward.
This playoff run has given us some incredibly entertaining moments from the Inside The NBA crew. Barkley has been responsible for most of them, including joking that Shaquille O’Neal would need a whole section of the arena for his children. On top of that, he completely roasted Shaquille O’Neal for missing the start of the show last week because he got stuck in traffic on his way to the studio.
Barkley had some flubs too when he made a statement about Nikola Jokic that was heavy in innuendo. The statement caused Shaquille O’Neal to laugh a lot. Hopefully, the entertainment from this playoff run continues till the end.
