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Charles Barkley Draws Attention After Complaining About NBA’s Celtics-Knicks Decision

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Robert Marvi | Last updated May 8, 2025 2:48 AM ET

The New York Knicks produced a stirring upset in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Boston Celtics on Monday. After trailing by 20 points in the third quarter and nine at the start of the fourth quarter, they took advantage of a major offensive drought by the Celtics to notch a 108-105 overtime win.

On Wednesday, Game 2 played out almost the same exact way Game 1 did. Once again, Boston went up by 20 points in the third quarter, then went ice-cold and was helpless to stop a Knicks rally that gave the Knicks a 91-90 victory.

The Knicks will have the opportunity to send the Celtics to the intensive care unit with a win in Game 3 on Saturday. But as far as Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley is concerned, there's one problem with Game 3: it will be played at 3:30 p.m. New York time.

“Now why you playin that game at 3:30?” Barkley asked. “That should be a Saturday night in New Yawk City. It’d be on fiya!”

Charles Barkley complains about the 3:30 start time for Celtics-Knicks Game 3 on Saturday: “Now why you playin that game at 3:30? That should be a Saturday night in New Yawk City. It’d be on fiya!”
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) May 8, 2025

Coming into this series, many felt New York could put up a fight against the defending NBA champion Celtics. But no one, with the possibility of a few homers within the Tri-state area, thought it could take the first two games at TD Garden.

Perhaps the Celtics have been exposed. They shot just 25% from 3-point range in the first two games, and even though they have struggled to hit from that distance, they haven't changed their offensive approach. They have continued to jack up a high volume of 3-point attempts, which has greatly hurt them.

The Knicks have gotten decent contributions from multiple players to start this series. On Wednesday, guard Josh Hart led them with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, while center Karl-Anthony Towns had 21 points and 17 rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Celtics' Jayson Tatum had another bad performance. After going 7-of-23 from the field in Game 1, he shot 5-of-19 on Wednesday. As a team, they went over eight minutes in the fourth quarter without making a single basket, according to ESPN.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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