Charles Barkley says Timberwolves are 'dumber than rocks,' 'embarrassing for basketball'
If you're going to embarrass yourself on national TV, don't do it with Charles Barkley watching.
In what might be the worst loss in NBA history, the Timberwolves let two massive leads slip away and wound up losing handily at home to the Grizzlies to fall behind two games to one in their best-of-seven playoff series.
Minnesota led by 26 in the first half before Memphis ended the second quarter on a 15-0 to cut the deficit to seven. Then Minnesota jumped out to a 25-point lead in the third quarter, only to again let the Grizzlies storm back and win going away, 104-95.
Barkley, likely cringing in the NBA on TNT studio, let the insults fly after the embarrassing loss.
"These Timberwolves are dumb," Barkley said, noting that he is talking about the players and coaches. He specifically ripped the Wolves coaching staff for not calling a timeout as Memphis blitzed Minnesota with 21 straight points in the fourth quarter.
"This gotta be one of the dumbest teams – all the talent – and they're dumber than rocks," Barkley said, later adding: "When they have to think, they can't think."
Karl-Anthony Towns, who has a $158 million contract, had more fouls (5) than shot attempts (4). The big man, who claims he's the greatest shooting big man in NBA history, finished with 8 points and 4 turnovers in 33 minutes.
"It's so frustrating," Barkley said. "One thing I can't stand is stupidity on the basketball court."
Brandon Clarke, who has a $12 million contract, had 20 points, 8 rebounds and 0 fouls in 29 minutes off the bench.
We don't know if any other team has won a game after trailing by 25+ points in the first half and then again late in the third quarter, but we do know that the largest comeback in NBA history is the 36-point deficit the Utah Jazz wiped away against the Denver Nuggets in 1996.
"That was embarrassing for basketball," Barkley said. "The coaching staff of Minnesota should be just as embarrassed as the players."
The Wolves trail the series 2-1 with Game 4 in Minneapolis Saturday at 9 p.m.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.