Charles Barkley has a bone to pick with New York.
The Round Mound of Rebound himself was in no mood to let the Knicks or their fans celebrate their thrilling 130-121 Game 2 win over the Pacers.
“People think we care who wins,” he said on TNT’s postgame show. “If the Knicks win that’ll be good. I don’t care who wins. but I’ll tell you what: I would love to see they ass get stomped by the Celtics, that’d be great. I’m just saying, whoever wins this series gonna get stomped by the Celtics.”
The Knicks are two wins short of even thinking about a potential Celtics matchup — Boston dominated the Cavaliers in the opener of its second-round series — but Chuck seemingly is seemingly harboring some deep tensions with the Garden faithful.
Kenny Smith pointed out that Barkley does, in fact, care who wins — which he seemed to agree with.
“New Yorkers y’all deserve it,” Barkley said. “Y’all think y’all the greatest thing since sliced bread. Y’all ain’t that good in New York, come on man, you’re overrated.”
Barkley was outspoken about his disgust during the Knicks’ first-round series against his former team, the 76ers, when New York fans made their presence known during Game 3 in Philadelphia.
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Whether that, or some other perceived slight led to his odd anger at the Knicks is unknown, but he was egged on by panel-mate and antagonist Shaquille O’Neal, who told him to “keep going.”
Barkley was more than happy to oblige.
“Just ’cause y’all make good pizza and good bagels,” Barkley added.
He did, however, stop short of trashing everything about NYC.
“I ain’t gonna say nothing bad about the street meat,” he said laughing. “I don’t care what kind of meat it is.”
