Charles Barkley Criticises NBA For Late Start Time In Playoffs

On that network’s pregame programme prior to a playoff game, how many experts would have the guts to criticise a league and, in a manner, his own network? Charles Barkley!

The Timberwolves and Nuggets’ Sunday night game had a 10:30 p.m. ET start time, which Barkley found annoying.

The NBA chose start times of 3:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 8 p.m., and 10:30 p.m. for Sunday’s four playoff games instead of 1 p.m. ET, 3:30 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. ET, and 8 p.m. ET.

Charles Barkley Criticises NBA For Late Start Time In Playoffs

“I have a problem with that game starting at 10:30,” Barkley said on TNT before Minnesota and Denver tipped off. “I do have a problem with that.”

Barkley was informed that the game began at 8:30 local time in Denver by Ernie Johnson, who is ALWAYS right on target. It won’t begin at 10:30 in Denver, according to Johnson.

“That’s not the point,” Barkley pointed out. “We had the whole day to ourselves. We should’ve played at 1 o’clock, 3 o’clock. To have that last game at 10:30 Eastern is just wrong. I don’t care what anybody says. It should not be starting that game at 8:30 Denver time.”

Shaquille O’Neal made an attempt to argue, saying obtuse things like “that’s your opinion” and “take your old ass home,” but it merely made a bad impression on him since Barkley had a good argument and Shaq was unable to refute it.

“I’m excited for the game, but I just don’t think it’s fair to have them playing that late,” said Barkley. “It’s just wrong. We gotta have some respect for the fans at some point. It ain’t fair for the people in Denver to be playing at 8:30 at night and they gotta go to school tomorrow so stop it. We want kids to watch the game, don’t we?

I commend Barkley for adopting this position. I commend Barkley in particular for making this statement on TNT just before the game. It would be simple for Barkley to make this statement on a chance podcast or radio interview on a Tuesday afternoon, but it required guts for him to criticise the NBA and the networks for their TV schedules before to a playoff game.

The main truth is that postseason games always begin much too late in every league. At 9:20 p.m. ET, the NCAA men’s tournament championship game began. It’s ludicrous. Sports fans will simply have to accept the fact that late start times will never change.

It’s still gratifying, though, that someone in a position of authority would mention how many people dislike an NBA playoff game starting at 10:30 p.m. ET on a Sunday.

 

 

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