The two Game 2’s from Tuesday night in the NBA weren’t the most competitive, as Milwaukee blew out Boston to even their series in the East and Golden State cruised to a fairly comfortable, but far less lopsided, win over the Rockets to go up 2-0.
Afterwards, the Inside the NBA crew convened to discuss those games and Wednesday night’s Game 2 in Denver between the Nuggets and Portland. They put a timer up for a Tissot sponsored segment to preview that game in Denver, in which all three analysts were supposed to rapid fire their thoughts in a set time period, but Chuck stumbled through his portion, forgetting Meyers Leonard’s name and thinking he was Alex Len.
Chuck 😂 pic.twitter.com/duzNA2olI3
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 1, 2019
Ernie Johnson having to tell Charles that Alex Len doesn’t play for the Blazers was hilarious, but not everyone on the set was pleased with how Barkley burned through the time on the segment. Shaq got very mad at Chuck and the rest, which they of course found hysterical as he said “it’s supposed to go 1, 2, 3, not 1, 2, back to 1,” in reference to Barkley getting so much time. That quote took Ernie out, as the three burst into uncontrollable laughter at Shaq being so mad.
Shaq vs. Chuck episode 253,739,088 💀 pic.twitter.com/PzPEhdYOWI
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 1, 2019
Barkley keeps calling him “Mr. Sensitive,” which only further angers Shaq, while Ernie can’t get over the “1, 2, back to 1” remark. Chuck and Kenny then keep prodding him by bringing up a conversation from the green room about whether Felipe Lopez was a better high school player than Shaq, that apparently had him mad before.
Segments like this are why Inside remains the gold standard for entertainment in sports studio shows. The analysis isn’t always spot on, because sometimes Chuck forgets people’s names, but we know what he means and their willingness to rag on each other no matter how mad someone actually is (usually Shaq) is almost always funny.
