"When Barkley said the Knicks were done": Skip Bayless insinuates Charles Barkley jinxed 76ers after halftime prediction
Sports media personality Skip Bayless had the Philadelphia 76ers winning their first-round NBA playoff series against the New York Knicks until he said fellow analyst Charles Barkley jinxed the Sixers in Game 6 with his halftime prediction.
The outspoken host of FS1's Undisputed show took to X (formerly Twitter) to take a dig at Inside the NBA's Barkley after the hard-fought Game 6 between the East rivals on Thursday, He insinuated that the NBA legend doomed the fate of the Sixers when he called the Knicks done in the game.
Bayless wrote:
"I had Philly winning this series, but at least on today's Undisputed I took the Knicks plus 3 in this game. I knew the Sixers were done at halftime when Barkley said the Knicks were done."
Bayless was responding to Barkley's take during their halftime report that New York was done after blowing a huge lead early on and allowing the Sixers to have their way all the way to the break.
'Sir Charles' said:
"It's over... We saw the Knicks, I don't what they the hell they're doing..."
As it turned out, Charles Barkley was wrong with his call as the Knicks steadied their ship and stood toe-to-toe against the Sixers all the way to the end, where they were subjected again to a late charge by Philadelphia.
They, however, held tough to win, 118-115, led by All-Star guard Jalen Brunson, who finished with 41 points, to advance to the next round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. Their series will begin on Monday in New York.
Charles Barkley's brewing beef with Skip Bayless
Skip Bayless' latest dig at Charles Barkley is a continuation of the beef between the two popular sports media personalities.
They have had their back-and-forth on air and social media, highlighting their dislike for one another.
During his session on the All the Smoke podcast early last year, Barkley addressed his gripe with Bayless, and said that he does not agree to how the Undisputed host is using his platform.
"So I really, I don't like the guy. Because television's a very powerful weapon," Barkley said. "Very powerful... And Skip, to me, when you, these guys are real people. And I don't mind you criticizing guys, it can never be personal."
"And one thing I hate about the media is you can tell guys they like and dislike," he added. "You can't talk about people on television like that. You have to be fair and honest with people. And I think he is, you can tell who he likes, You can tell who he dislikes cause he makes it personal."
Of course, it should be noted that Charles Barkley is not faultless as far as 'fairness' is concerned and has taken flak for it here and there.