Charles Barkley Refuses to Watch Four Quarters of NBA Games Unless Good Teams Are Playing

Charles Barkley might be paid handsomely to comment on the NBA on TV, but that doesn't mean he feels obligated to watch all four quarters of a NBA game.

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Charles Barkley might be paid handsomely to comment on the NBA thanks to his gig with TNT. But that doesn't mean he feels obligated to watch all four quarters of a game unless it's Warriors-Spurs. 

Appearing on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike Wednesday, Barkley said he's only "watched about five or six full basketball games all year" because of the "awful" basketball being played and refuses to tune in for every second of a game unless two of the league's top teams are facing off.  

Listen, first of all, I want to thank the Golden State Warriors because it’s been very awful basketball this year. Awful. I mean, just bad. You know, if you think about it—and I’m not no old guy hating—but unless Golden State is playing the Clippers, the Cavs, Oklahoma City, the Spurs, I’m not going to watch a full NBA basketball [game]. It’s not very good basketball. And I love basketball. But there’s only a couple games—well, there’s only five games I’m watching top to bottom. The rest of the games aren’t worth watching top to bottom.

For the record, Barkley did watch Saturday's Golden State-OKC game and raved about it (how could you not?). Other tidbits from Barkley's appearance on the morning show included his prediction that the Warriors—despite chasing the ''95-96 Bulls' 72-10 regular season record—would have a bumpy path in the Western Conference playoffs. He also bemoaned the competitive balance of the league and hoped it could be addressed over the summer once free agency begins (i.e. not having Kevin Durant sign with the Warriors.  

[h/t Fox Sports]

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