We are three weeks away from the start of the NBA Playoffs, and the stretch run of the regular season is in full force as teams jockey for playoff position and Play-In seeding.
Mid-March is the start of the busy season for the good folks over at TNT Sports, as the NCAA Tournament coverage rolls straight into the NBA Playoffs, where the Inside the NBA crew will be going live almost every night. Going from a weekly show to a nightly show means an awful lot more opportunities for Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal to get on each other’s nerves, and we’ve seen over the past two decades how the two can wear on each other in studio over the course of the postseason.
Chuck’s constant determination to get under Shaq’s skin is part of what makes the show such a delight, and this year as they get ready for the playoffs, TNT is steering into those shenanigans in their ad campaign for this year’s postseason coverage. In a new spot that will debut during the Sweet 16 on Thursday night, which TNT provided to Dime for an exclusive early look, Chuck and Shaq take a trip to couples counseling where they see the good doctor, Julius Erving, to try and work things out before a trust fall exercise goes wrong.
It’s a delightful spot and I’m sure the fellas didn’t have to try too hard to act like they were annoyed with each other. We’ve gotten some great Shaq-Chuck playoff moments like the “one, two, back to one” rant by Shaq and Chuck asking Shaq “who do they mistake you for? Shrek?”, and once they have to sit on that desk together every night again come playoff time, I’m sure we’ll get more for the Chuck and Shaq highlight reel.
