The beloved present “Contained in the NBA,” that includes Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith, aired its remaining regular-season episode on Thursday evening — and the hosts took a second to look again on a few of their most memorable moments from the present’s historical past.
Kenny Smith recalled his all-time favourite: the notorious donkey-kissing incident involving Charles Barkley after shedding a wager. As Smith instructed it, the wager was made again in 2002 throughout Yao Ming’s rookie season, when Barkley boldly claimed the Chinese language large man would by no means drop 20 factors in a recreation.
Yao ended up hitting the 20-point mark six occasions that yr. So to settle the wager, Smith didn’t maintain again — he introduced an precise donkey onto the set and made Charles Barkley fulfill his promise.
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“My favourite second is when Chuck had by no means seen Yao Ming play — he was a rookie — and he mentioned, ‘Yao Ming would by no means rating 20 factors in a recreation, Kenny, and if he does, I am going to kiss your ass.’”
Smith mentioned he needed to get artistic to make the second depend.
“I needed to assume outdoors the field,” Smith mentioned. “So I purchased in a donkey after Yao Ming scored 20 factors, and Charles needed to kiss the donkey. However as a substitute of kissing a donkey anyplace, as a result of it is not large — a donkey is an ass — he truly kissed the donkey on the ass.”
Barkley chimed in, saying he had little interest in kissing any animal on the mouth — except it was a canine.
“I am not going to kiss an animal on the lip,” Barkley mentioned. “I am not going to kiss it except it is a canine.”
“However the butt is healthier?” Smith requested.
“Yeah,” Barkley answered, because the set broke into laughter.
“Contained in the NBA” debuted in 1989, the identical yr TNT started broadcasting NBA video games. Ernie Johnson turned the full-time host in 1990 and has remained ever since. Kenny Smith joined in 1998, adopted by Charles Barkley in 2000 and Shaq in 2011 after he retired from enjoying.
Charles Barkley backs Clippers as second-best within the West
With the Western Convention standings in a gridlock, issues are removed from settled. The OKC Thunder have locked up the highest seed, sitting 14 video games forward of the No. 2 Houston Rockets. The Lakers have a agency grip on the third spot with two video games left to play.
However the actual battle is from seeds 4 to eight — the place only one recreation separates all 5 groups.
On Thursday, Charles Barkley made a daring prediction concerning the convention: after the Thunder, he believes the LA Clippers are subsequent in line.
“I am gonna say one thing loopy proper now,” Barkley mentioned. “The Clippers is likely to be the second finest crew within the West.”
“When wholesome. However they’re wholesome. Hey, Kawhi Leonard’s superb to me man. … Sure. I feel the Clippers are the very best crew after the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder.”
The Clippers, who’re using a six-game win streak, sit at No. 5 with a 48-32 document — tied with the fourth-place Nuggets. Their remaining two video games are essential: first towards the Sacramento Kings, after which an enormous showdown with the No. 6 Golden State Warriors, who’re simply behind them at 47-33.
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Edited by John Ezekiel Hirro