Never the last for a shattering prediction, Charles Barkley made everyone laugh a few weeks ago. But after 10 days of bubble, there is something to take the Chuckster seriously with his prognosis …
On the side of the Inside The NBA team on TNT, the recovery has aroused such euphoria that it has generated a wave of forecasts all more eccentric than each other. Shaquille O’Neal for example estimated that the Nets would win a series of playoffs, while Charles Barkley found his hobbyhorse: the Blazers.
Sir Charles believes that Portland, far from the post-season a few weeks ago, will not only grab 8th place after a play-in, but will then beat the Lakers in the first round, to finally play the Finals !
When Barkley first came up with this theory, a lot of people laughed at him. But since then, the Blazers have caused a sensation in the bubble, especially in the wake of a Carmelo Anthony clutch at will and the resounding return of Jusuf Nurkic.
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And while the Oregon troops have already moved up to 9th place, it was a confident Chuckster who supported his point. This time, it’s no longer laughing, it’s listening:
Let me tell you something. They have the best back line in the entire NBA right now, with Steph Curry and Klay Thompson being injured. You have Nurkic coming off the bench and doing it all. Gary Trent was amazing, Zach Collins came back too, Whiteside against all odds… They’re tall, beefy, and anyone who goes up against them is going to have to seriously take it up a notch.
After a disappointing season for the Blazers, we almost forgot that last year, they were conference finalists. And with a workforce finally rebuilt in full, a dominant visual impression and Lakers in great delicacy, Barkley’s prediction goes from crazy to much more interesting.
A lot can still happen from here to the playoffs, but the increasingly likely prospect of a Lakers vs Blazers makes Charles Barkley salivate. For him, that’s for sure, his foals will go straight to the Finals …
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