DENVER — At least one member of the national media is showing the Denver Nuggets the respect they've earned during a strong postseason run that has led to a 2-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
During Game 2 coverage of the Eastern Conference Finals Friday, TNT analyst Charles Barkley guaranteed the Nuggets would move past LeBron James' squad to not only appear in the franchise's first NBA Finals, but also beat whoever comes out of the East.
"[Denver's] gonna win a championship in my opinion," Barkley said. "I can't wait to get to the Finals because I know they have good golf courses out there in Denver. Hey Peyton Manning, I'm calling you."
"And that ball flies out there," host Ernie Johnson added.
Kenny Smith chimed in to ask if they were going to count out the Lakers, and "Sir Charles" emphatically said yes.
"Hell yeah," Barkley exclaimed.
"Guarantee it then," Shaquille O'Neal said challenging Barkley, who did not hesitate.
"Guarantee," Barkley hollered. "I'm going to the Mile High. Peyton and Sean [Payton] get the golf courses ready, Chuck coming. That ball fly out there."
"Put that in your pipe and smoke it," Johnson and Barkley both added to cap off the segment.
Barkley previously spoke in defense of two-time MVP Nikola Jokic after a single voter out of 100 left the Serbian superstar off his 5-man MVP ballot, calling the then-unidentified voter a "damn idiot."
"There's one person, I don't even know this fool's name, that didn't even have Joker in the top five," Barkley said. "People like that shouldn't get a vote."
When ballots were released by the NBA they revealed ESPN analyst Mark Jackson was the voter who omitted Jokic.
The 17-year NBA veteran apologized and said leaving Jokic off of his ballot was a mistake.
"I'm not a guy that does it for clicks to be trending," Jackson said. "Absolute mistake made by me."
Jackson implied that he accidentally submitted his All-NBA selections instead of his MVP selections.
"You can tell, I put one center, two forwards and two guards, so I wasn't even thinking," Jackson explained.
Another ESPN analyst, Kendrick Perkins, has also changed his tune on Jokic and the Nuggets recently.
In March, Perkins accused Jokic of padding his stats to reach a triple-double. Perkins' comments led to a national sports conversation about stat padding.
Perkins also alleged in March that NBA MVP voters have a racial bias against Black players, leading to another national conversation involving Jokic.
"I’ve been in denial about Jokic and the Nuggets… but I MUST say that they are LEGIT. Carry the hell on…" Perkins tweeted.
Meanwhile, another ESPN employee who is working the Nuggets-Lakers series recently admitted she hadn't watched Jokic before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
Sideline reporter Lisa Salters explained it had been a decade since she’d worked a game in Denver and she couldn’t recall watching Jokic, who is in his eighth NBA season, on the road or in the conference finals in the 2020 Florida bubble, also against the Lakers.
“This is really the first time I’ve had a chance to watch him play, and I’ve got to admit, I have been sleeping on this guy. He is spectacular. He is ridiculously good,” Salters told Rich Eisen Show guest host Suzy Shuster the next day.
Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
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