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Charles Barkley: 'The Mavs Are Not Going to Win Another Game'

The TNT analyst believes the LA Clippers have regained control of the series; The former MVP has been in the Mavs' situation before.

Mason Bissada

© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Along with many Clipper fans, Charles Barkley’s faith appears to have been restored in LA after the team improbably won both games in Dallas to tie their first-round series with the Mavericks at 2-2.

“The Mavs are in trouble,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA after the Clippers’ 106-81 blowout victory in Game 4. “The Mavs are not going to win another game. They gon’ lose four straight...The Clippers are frontrunners.”

Barkley even went as far as to guarantee the statement by asking Ernie Johnson to place his quote on their sticky-note board, which holds the panel’s absolute proclamations.

Barkley is speaking from experience, as he’s been in both the Clippers’ and the Mavericks’ shoes when he himself was competing for a championship. Back in 1993, when Barkley was the reigning MVP for the Phoenix Suns, his team fell down 0-2 to the Los Angeles Lakers in a first-round series despite both games taking place in Phoenix. The Suns were able to rally, winning Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles before claiming the five-game series by winning Game 5 in Phoenix. (Barkley averaged a mean 27.6 points, 14.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in that series.) 

Then the following season in 1994, when Barkley’s Suns matched up against the eventual-champion Houston Rockets, Phoenix took a commanding lead in the second-round series by winning the first two games in Houston. However, the Hakeem Olajuwon-led Rockets would go on to win the next two games in Phoenix, tying the series and eventually winning in seven games. (The Dream put up 28.7 points, 13.7 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 3.9 blocks through those seven games.) 

Those ‘93 Suns and ‘94 Rockets were the first two teams since the NBA-ABA merger to come back and win a series after losing the first two games on their home floor. Since then, only two other teams (the ‘05 Mavericks and the ‘17 Boston Celtics) have accomplished the feat. The Clippers no-doubt still have a daunting task at hand, but the series has now essentially reset to a best-of-3 with two of the three games in Los Angeles.

“I’ve been in this situation where you won the first two games on the road,” Barkley recalled. “If you don’t win them next two...Dallas is in trouble right now.”

Game 5 is set to tip off from Staples Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

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Mason Bissada
MASON BISSADA

Former writer for Clippers.com

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