Charles Barkley’s “Keys To Victory For The Cavs”: the Pope, the Dalai Lama, and Jesus?

“Keys To The Game” can often wind up being pretty silly, and Turner Sports analyst Charles Barkley fully leaned into that on NBA TV ahead of Game Four of the NBA Finals Friday night. Barkley’s “Keys To Victory For The Cavs” were a list of religious figures:

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/873315825872027648

“This is the first time in my memory you have a graphic.” “I have a graphic, and I’m going out on a limb with this one. It started last night with all the Cavs’ fans walking up to me, asking ‘Do the Cavs have a chance? And I got…for everything to go perfect, this is what’s going to have to happen tonight. These people got to do their thing tonight.”

Let’s run through Barkley’s list:

• Joel Osteen, televangelist and senior pastor in Texas.
• TD Jakes, televangelist and bishop in Texas.
• The Pope, head of the Roman Catholic faith on Earth.
• Jesus; probably don’t need any further explanation there.
• Ernest Angley, pastor in Ohio.
• Benny Hinn, Israeli televangelist.
• The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.
• “Ghandi,” presumably Indian independence leader Mahatma Ghandi.

That’s quite the list, and perhaps some of them did do their part. The Cavaliers certainly did their own part, coming up with a 137-116 win to extend the series and cause everyone to start making 3-1 lead jokes. But hey, if things keep on coming up this way, maybe they should throw out some divine intervention jokes instead. And what will Barkley come up with

[For The Win]