The Cavs took a 3-1 series lead on the Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals with a 112-99 win, as they righted the ship after a Game 3 loss and sluggish start found them down 16 to Boston in the first half. Kyrie Irving took over with 42 points, while LeBron James bounced back from a terrible Game 3 with 34 points as well.
The Cavs win all but assures us of a grudge match in the NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors, who earned their spot on Monday. After Game 4, the Inside The NBA crew discussed the need for Cleveland to wrap up the series in Game 5 to earn the most rest possible when Shaq and Charles Barkley started trading shots at each other, eventually resulting in threats of a food fight involving the chicken wings on the table.
The entire scene was bizarre, with Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith stuck in the middle trying to continue the conversation, to no avail.
Shaq: “You don’t wanna mess around Chuck cause you have no idea what we’re talking about because you’ve only been to the Finals once.”
Chuck: “I wasn’t riding on Dwyane Wade’s and Kobe’s coattails.”
Shaq: “I got the same thing you got and I passed you up 10 years ago.”
Chuck: “I’m just saying if I were riding on Kobe’s coattails and Dwyane Wade’s. And Alonzo Mourning’s. And Rick Fox. Derek Fisher.”
Shaq: “People question why you in the Hall of Fame anyway. Bum.”
Ernie: “Why did that get so personal? We’re just talking about Game 5.”
Shaq: “Cause Chuck’s always interrupting me. Don’t interrupt me Chuck, I’ll punch you right in your face.”
Chuck: “Hit me and we’ll be moving some furniture. I’m gonna throw one of these chicken wings at your fat ass. You gonna grab it like one of those birds do.”
The spat concluded with Shaq picking up a wing and threatening to throw it as Kenny Smith tried to protect himself from the potential food fight in his beige suit. Barkley laughed that his suit wouldn’t even show any BBQ sauce, and eventually Shaq put the wing down. The best part was Ernie asking why this had to get so personal all of a sudden between the two, and Shaq finally letting some truth out that he’s frustrated by Chuck interrupting him all the time.
Shaq and Barkley poking fun at each other and threatening to fight happens all the time, but this time they had some live ammunition on the table in the form of chicken wings and we almost had a televised NBA food fight on our hands.
