Charles Barkley really didn't think the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors stood a chance once Kevin Durant went down with a calf injury against the Houston Rockets. At the time, Barkley told his Inside The NBA co-hosts, “They are not going to beat the Rockets without KD, and they are not going to beat Portland or Denver without KD.”
Barkley, who predicted that the Blazers would reach the NBA Finals well before they got swept by the KD-less Warriors, admitted he was dead wrong during his appearance on ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption."
“I was 100 percent wrong, but kudos to the Golden State Warriors," Barkley explained during Tuesday's episode of PTI. "And two things strike me. Steph Curry has put his name back in the conversation, Tony. When we talk about the best players in the world, we talk about KD, Giannis, Kawhi, Lebron. Steph Curry has proven to us he’s a two-time MVP.
"He’s been fabulous.”
Barkley also apologized during Tuesday night's edition of Inside The NBA, which you can check out below.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1131039123165159424
Curry, who was left off of Barkley's list of the NBA's Top-5 players in late April, was absolutely stellar in the Western Conference Finals. He averaged a playoff series career-high 36.5 points to go along with 8.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the four games against Portland, while shooting 46.9% from the floor, 42.6% from behind the arc.
Curry and co. now await the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks vs Toronto Raptors series, which is knotted at 2-2 as the series shifts back to Milwaukee. Although Barkley's Blazers prediction went south, he still has the Bucks, who he predicts will win it all this year.
