Charles Barkley: 'That Minnesota team dumb'
Charles Barkley has done it again, calling the Minnesota Timberwolves a "dumb" basketball team. It continues a pattern that started last year when the Timberwolves were blowing big leads in the playoffs against the Memphis Grizzlies, resulting in Barkley saying the Timberwolves were "dumber than rocks."
This year, getting Barkley on TNT for a Timberwolves game has been difficult. It happened before the New Year once and in the two TNT games Minnesota had after were both nights off for Barkley, so Tuesday's play-in game against the Lakers was the first time hearing Barkley opine about Minnesota in a long time.
"In the words of the great Mike Wilbon: That Minnesota team dumb," said Barkley.
We're not sure if Wilbon ever actually called the Timberwolves dumb, but that's beside the point. Minnesota held a 15-point lead with under five minutes left in the third quarter and found a way to lose to the Lakers in overtime. The consolation prize was LeBron James calling Minnesota a "good-ass team."
Even when the Timberwolves were up by 11 at the half, Barkley wasn't buying it.
"The Wolves are playing hard. The Lakers got something to play for. The Wolves ain't going to win nothing," said Barkley, making it clear that he considers the Lakers a championship-caliber team while the Wolves are just there for the ride.
Shaquille O'Neal was less harsh, though pointed with his fake words when he said the Lakers won as a result of the "dismantilization" of the Timberwolves. And no, dismantiilization is not a real word.
"The Wolves had 11 turnovers and five baskets between the last quarter and overtime. Whatever that word Shaq made up is true. Minnesota, they gotta be kicking themselves," said Barkley.
"Dismantilization" is not a word, @Shaq 💀 pic.twitter.com/RwT7TOXHUD
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 12, 2023
At halftime, Shaq was asked by Ernie Johnson if the Lakers fell victim to the "Minnesota has no chance" mentality, and Shaq answered, "Yes, I think they did."
Minnesota isn't done yet. They have an elimination game Friday night at home against the winner of Wednesday's game between New Orleans and Oklahoma City. A loss means their season is over, but a win gets them the No. 8 seed and a best-of-seven series against the No. 1 Denver Nuggets.
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.