Basketball analyst Charles Barkley, often prone to exaggeration to make a point, was at it again in the wake of a blowout win by the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Atlanta Hawks. “Not for this game; to set the tone for the next game”.
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After Wednesday night’s game, Barkley said on TNT’s “Inside the NBA” that “the Atlanta Hawks got to take somebody out”.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said Thursday that he has more important things to worry about than Cleveland’s late pursuit of the record.
“I’m not trying to hurt them.You’ve got to take somebody out”, Barkley said.
Shaquille O’Neal, on the air, mildly refuted Barkley, saying “You can’t hurt no one, Chuck”. “I mean, records are made to be broken, I don’t see anything wrong with it”.
“We’re going to still play our physical style of play, both offensively and defensively and I think the referees will do a great job of taking care of the game, that has nothing to do with basketball”, he said. “We played the guys who don’t get a chance to play a lot and they felt good on the floor and they wanted to go for the record”.
When asked about Barkley’s comments and whether he believed it would impact the Hawks’ performance, James said, “That’s Chuck being Chuck”. We’re all just lucky that he doesn’t feel shame. “I think right now we’re playing the way we want to play on offense and on the defensive end”.
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Also, some Hawks expressed displeasure about the Cavs’ 3-point bonanza to cleveland.com.
