NBA: Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan Holding Los Angeles Clippers Back, Says Charles Barkley
NBA fans are pretty used to hearing shocking comments by Charles Barkley over the years.
The TNT NBA analyst recently talked about the Los Angeles Clippers' postseason struggles. The Clippers haven't made it out of the second round of the playoffs since...well, ever. This will be the fourth consecutive year the Clippers are featured in the postseason, but they will have to go through the defending NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round.
Despite being the lower seed and having home-court advantage, many NBA experts are picking the Spurs to win the series and advance.
As far as Barkley's opinion on the Clippers' "Big Three," he had some strong opinions about them.
“I would love for somebody to go back and look at the entire season and count DeAndre Jordan’s baskets and I bet you it’s probably been a ratio of 90 to 10, dunks to making a shot," Barkley said.
Barkley later stood up for point guard Chris Paul III, while again blasting Jordan.
“Chris Paul is the reason they’re winning. He’s not the reason they’re losing. He has to do so much for that team because you can’t get the ball to DeAndre, who is a hell of a player, but you can’t give him the ball. I would be curious to see the last time he scored when he didn’t dunk," Barkley said.
Strong words by a Hall of Fame player. Barkley played 16 seasons in the NBA for the Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets. Regarded as one of the best power forwards of all time, Barkley made of living in the paint area with his post moves. In the 1992-93 season, during which he won the league MVP award, he led the Suns to the NBA Finals in his first season with the team, but lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in six games.
However, Barkley didn't stop there. He also had some choice words for former No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin.
“Blake, to me, I like Blake a lot as a player but he has not become better in the halfcourt. He’s become a jump shooter. And that goes back to those guys at Golden State. If I’m guarding Blake, I want him to shoot jumpers, because if he comes toward me full speed or posts me up, I’m going to have to get in foul trouble.
"Every time he shoots a jump shot, the defender is saying, ‘Thank God, he shot a jumper.’ So if he keeps saying he wants to round his game, screw that, man. You get to the basket, you get layups, dunks, you get the other team in foul trouble," Barkley explained.
There's no denying Griffin doesn't have a very good jump shot. One could make the case that Griffin is the best dunker in the game today, but he does force some unnecessary jump shots. While Griffin and Jordan aren't perfect, we also can't let Paul off the hook completely. Paul has never made it out of the second round of the playoffs in his career thus far.
The Clippers enter this postseason as the No. 3 seed, and there's no excuses for them to get eliminated early this time around.
Many NBA fans will take Barkley's comments seriously because he excelled on the court, but as he once told us, he is not a role model.
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