At halftime of Tuesday’s game between the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns, we got something far more exciting — a race between Inside the NBA analysts Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.
The two raced from the desk to the video board. While it wasn’t a particularly fast race, it did have a dramatic finish.
WHO WON THIS RACE TO THE BOARD??? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/vUDttTFUVr
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 11, 2022
That’s the kind of finish we saw during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when Michael Phelps narrowly won the 100 butterfly, just out-touching Milorad Čavić at the end.
Who won the race between Smith and Barkley? It’s too close to tell for sure. Even the slow-motion replays that we saw were inconclusive.
Though, it is worth noting that LeBron James and Draymond Green both voted in Barkley’s favor.
YES!!! CHUCK WON 🥇
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 11, 2022
Chuck won!
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) May 11, 2022
NBA legend Bill Russell didn’t quite agree with LeBron or Draymond, calling the race a tie. He did, however, feel that Barkley earned the tiebreaker.
Tie goes to the Chuckster. I Guarantee it @NBAonTNT sorry @TheJetOnTNT pic.twitter.com/V2LQDa9Lrf
— TheBillRussell (@RealBillRussell) May 11, 2022
We can’t argue with Russell’s logic. Barkley had many different nicknames during his playing career. One of those was “The Round Mound of Rebound.” This was a nickname that he had before even entering the NBA. His post-playing days have only made Barkley even more round. Smith, meanwhile, is Kenny the Jet, or at least he was.
“The Jet” vs. “The Mound Round of Rebound” should never have been close. Even if Smith did narrowly touch first, we have to give the edge to Barkley here. At the very least, he needs to retire that nickname.
