Charles Barkley Ambushed for 360 Seconds by Shaq’s Simple Question on Mavericks vs Timberwolves

Shaq did that thing he gets paid for – Making Sir Charles struggle for words. Minnesota kept their chances for the Finals alive by taking Game 4 from Dallas. The Inside Guys broke down the highlights of the game that ended 100-105 and name-dropped their stars of the game. Charles Barkley firmly placed the credit on Minnesota’s stars, particularly Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. He unfortunately left himself wide open to Shaquille O’Neal’s deceptively simple question.

Referring to Ant and KAT’s redemption tonight, Chuck said, “Basketball to me is so simple – your stars have to be stars.” That led Shaq to ask, “If the Dallas stars play well and the Minnesota stars play well, who wins the game? Four guys play, lights out, who wins?” Cue two seconds of awkward silence from Chuck.

After staring into space, jaw hanging open, a couple of ‘I thinks’ and mic poised, Barkley almost said Minnesota. Then he glossed over the question and continue his previous train of thought. But it was a verbal trainwreck of incomplete thoughts. “If those two guys… If KAT imposes his will like he did at the game…” He broke into a critical analysis of Towns’ performance in this series as the Inside Guys Feat. Draymond Green waited.

Kenny Smith had to prod him, “You gotta answer the question.” It does seem that after missing a few Chuck Guarantees this postseason, Barkley is hesitant to indirectly say who is going to win this series if Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving are well-matched in Edwards and Towns. He vaguely said, “All four guys played great.” Which is true.

Doncic scored 28 tonight with a lot of support from Kyrie went 16 points today. On the other side, Ant scored a game-high 29 points followed by KAT’s 25 points. The Inside Guys also acknowledged Rudy Gobert was at his defensive best with 13 points to his credit. Yet it was not about this game. O’Neal demanded Chuck’s verdict on who has a higher chance of winning between Dallas’ and Minnesota’s star duos. In doing that, he effectively left him stuttering.

Chuck finally gives his answer

The others played Shaq’s enforcer by nagging Chuck into giving a definitive answer. When Barkley tried to get himself out of the hole by saying the stars have to cancel each other out, Kenny one-upped him with a straightforward answer. He declared Minnesota would win in a battle of the stars.

Smart-talking Chuck took the easy way out and agreed with Kenny. So Shaq had to taunt him, “Just took you six minutes to answer that Chuck.” At least Chuck had the grace to admit it.

There you have it. Chuck puts his faith in Minnesota’s stars. Do you think his prediction is holding true?