Charles Barkley’s brutally honest Suns take leaves Shaq laughing

Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns are looking to bounce back on Wednesday night when they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their first round playoff series. Game 1 between the two teams was a massacre, but it was partially expected given the quick turnaround for the Suns.

Oklahoma City took Game 1 against Phoenix on Sunday afternoon, 119-84, leading by double digits in the first quarter, by 20+ points in the second quarter, and leading by as many as 39 points in the blowout victory. Phoenix had just played their win-or-go-home play-in game against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night before flying to Oklahoma City for the afternoon tipoff.

Devin Booker scored 23 points to lead the Suns in scoring, but guys like Jalen Green (6-of-16 shooting) and Dillon Brooks (6-of-22 shooting) struggled mightily in the game.

During the ESPN broadcast during the double-header of NBA playoff games on Wednesday night, former Suns big man Charles Barkley had some thoughts on what the Suns needed to do in Game 2.

“It’s all about pride tonight,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA. “This ain’t got nothing to do with X’s and O’s. This is about Jim’s and Joe’s. Like, when somebody just kick your ass, as a player, as a man, like, and everybody’s watching. How are you gonna respond?

“Now, do I think my Suns can win this series? Hell no. But as a basketball player, when you get humiliated like that, you say, what you do in your office? The coach can’t show you no tape because that’s Freddy Krueger type stuff. That’s a horror movie. But if I’m the coach who’s done a hell of a job, should get some votes for Coach of the Year, Jordan Ott, I’m saying, ‘Guys, we’re not gonna watch this tape. That was embarrassing. It was humiliating. We didn’t represent Phoenix, the Suns. If you guys go out there and play hard, give me everything you got and they beat us, I can live with it.’ But what happened Sunday was unacceptable.