Watch: Shaquille O'Neal and 'Inside the NBA' hold the 'frozen smile pose', Charles Barkley hilariously refuses to co-operate
The Inside the NBA crew, featuring Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley, know how to have fun.
However, on this occasion, you can cancel Barkley's name from that list. The hall-of-famer recently refused to strike a frozen pose with the rest of the Inside the NBA crew, saying, "That's stupid."
Barkley's bone-dry remark came in response to Johnson's request for everyone to pose for the camera on the count of three.
Everyone is having fun except Chuck 😂
#InsideTheNBA https://t.co/AHh3Awe0ia
Responding to Barkley's refusal to pose, Smith told the 1993 league MVP,
"You never want to play along... sometimes you got to play along man."
Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley respond to Denver's bench scuffle
The lighter moment apart, the Inside the NBA crew reacted to an incident from Game 2 of the Denver Nuggets' first-round playoff matchup against the Golden State Warriors. In the second half, DeMarcus Cousins and Will Barton were involved in a bench scuffle.
The Nuggets also had to deal with MVP candidate Nikola Jokic being tossed from the game. Jokic picked up two quick technical fouls in the space of eight minutes towards the end of quarter three and the start of quarter four to exit the game.
The Dubs have the Nuggets frustrated 😲 https://t.co/AjYXr42wJm
Shaquille O'Neal reacted first to the bust-up between the Nuggets players, saying:
"The main guy is frustrated. Everybody is frustrated and it just leads down. And you got guys like DeMarcus Cousins, I don't know what happened, so I'm not going to speculate, but if I'm coming off the bench and you say something, it's just going to boil over. "
Dubs fans wave goodbye to Joker after his second technical foul 😂 https://t.co/lFc163aR7C
After O'Neal's comments, Charles Barkley was asked for his opinion by Johnson. The anchor asked him whether Denver head coach Michael Malone should address the fracas immediately. The former NBA player was categorical in his assessment when he said:
"Hell yeah. First of all, if I'm Michael Malone, I say, 'Listen guys, we can't beat these guys if we're going to fight each other. It's hard enough to beat them. We can't have that BS on the bench. DeMarcus, you know your reputation. You don't get the benefit of the doubt. You don't ever get the benefit of the doubt.'"
Charles Barkley added:
"Guys get to fight. It's an emotional game, but you don't do that in public."
"If I'm Michael Malone, I say 'Listen guys... We can't beat these guys if we gonna fight with each other.'"
@SHAQ & Chuck talk Denver's scuffle on the bench in Game 2. https://t.co/gwUf8Ac6AH
The Nuggets are 0-2 against Golden State in the best-of-seven series following a 126-106 loss in Game 2. The action now shifts to Denver for games 3 and 4, which will give Jokic and co. some hope of getting themselves back into the series.