The Cleveland Cavaliers came into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks as the underdogs, and despite having a 22-point lead in the fourth quarter, suffered a 115-104 loss in overtime. Needless to say, Charles Barkley had some harsh words for the Cavs while reacting to their display.
After the result, Charles Barkley took the time to sound off on the Cavaliers’ poor second-half performance on “Inside the NBA.” While addressing the team’s shortcomings in the fourth quarter, the NBA legend commented:
“You know, Ernie, I take my job very seriously. I don’t like getting on TV and saying people choked. But that was a damn choke job. I’m going to say that now, and I’m very selective when I say that.”
Co-host Kenny Smith asked Charles Barkley to clarify what makes a team choke and what makes them lose the game. To this, Barkley replied:
“So they had a 22-point lead, and they just started milking the clock. Like a prevent offense.”
Shaquille O’Neal interjected at this stage, adding:
“Not only that, Chuck. I don’t think the coach from the Cavaliers had a great use of timeouts.”
Charles Barkley agreed and built upon O’Neal’s statement, sharing:
“He let the lead go from like 20 to six, Ernie, and he never called a timeout.”
As O’Neal and Barkley mentioned, the Cavaliers went into the fourth quarter with a 13-point lead. This grew to 22 points with just under eight minutes left in the game.
Once the Knicks began mounting a comeback, scoring nine points in quick succession, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson looked hesitant to call a timeout and disrupt the play. This allowed New York to build some momentum.
By the time Atkinson called a full timeout (3:30 left on the clock), the Knicks had cut the lead down to just five points. With all the momentum on their side, New York seemed unstoppable.
“My problem was, if you go back and look, and you show those highlights in the beginning, the ball was moving,” Barkley observed. “Everybody was getting wide-open shots. You go back and look at the first six or eight minutes of that fourth quarter, and they were just going one-on-one. The shot clock was on their back every single time, and Kenny should have called a timeout sooner.”
Although the first quarter was a slow one for Cleveland, the team picked up the pace in the second (32 PTS, 10-16 FG) and the third (35 PTS, 10-21 FG). While the momentum was with the Cavaliers, as Charles Barkley mentioned, the team’s offense stagnated in the fourth quarter (18 PTS, 5-16 FG).
Needless to say, by OT, the Cavaliers had lost control of the game, logging only three points in the extra period to cap off a late-game collapse.
Charles Barkley’s critique of the Cavs’ performance in Game 1 seems justified, especially when considering that players like Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley have been equally harsh in reviewing the display.
After a hot start, Cleveland ended the night shooting 36-90 from the field (~40%) and 16-50 from three-point range (~32%). Although their perimeter shooting figures were still better than the Knicks’, the fact that they stopped moving the ball around and committed 21 turnovers for the game sums up the team’s shortcomings.
For the most part, a loss in Game 1 was to be expected given the short turnaround time from Game 7 of the semifinals. But considering how such a loss could harm the team’s morale, Cleveland must find a solution and bounce back stronger.
