TNT analyst and former NBA star Charles Barkley made some hilarious comments about the San Antonio Spurs’ air conditioning system after it stopped working during Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals. Playing against the famous big 3 of the Heat, which included LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade, temperatures rose as high as 90 degrees for the Spurs in their first home game of the series. The faulty air conditioning was fixed quickly and game 2 had no such issues.
Advertisement
However, in typical Chuck fashion, Barkley used the opportunity to ‘bury the hatchet’ with the Spurs fans once and for all. Claiming that he had noble intentions, Barkley showed up with a donation bucket in the buildup to game 3.
The Chuckster claimed that he will walk around with the bucket the entire night to collect funds for the Spurs organization. “I mean it’s too hot to be down there by the dirty little creek. But you know what, I am here to bury the hatchet with the San Antonio fans. As you look to my left, I have a San Antonio air conditioning fund. I am gonna be walking around with this the whole night,” Barkley said.
Via this action, he claimed that the “hatchet” between him and the Spurs had been buried, “Walking around, I look in it right now, it’s five dollars in here. $2700 to get the air conditioning fixed. So, San Antonio, I am burying the feud tonight, but I am gonna be walking around with this air conditioning fund, all night here in Miami. So, the hatchet is buried.”
Of course, the other analysts pretended they weren’t sure what “hatchet” Chuck was talking about. When asked to explain by Shaquille O’Neal, Barkley had an even more hilarious response, “They’ve [the city of San Antonio] got bigger women who sucked all the air out of the arena. It is comfortable, but listen, I feel bad with all the bigger women sucking out the air, it almost killed LeBron James. It almost killed the best player in the world,” Barkley hilariously added. This is in line with Chuck’s running gag on TNT claiming that most women in the city of San Antonio were overweight.
Of course, the Finals went on as planned, as there were no further interruptions related to air conditioning. Despite losing game 2, the Spurs ended up winning three straight games to win the series and the NBA championship 4-1. The loss prompted LeBron leaving the Heat to join the Cavs next offseason.
The San Antonio Spurs apologized after the AC stopped working in the 2014 Finals
The Spurs started the series with a comfortable 110-95 victory. However, headlines were dominated by the fact that an electrical failure had allowed temperatures to reach as high as 90 degrees.
This led to players using ice packs on the bench to stay cool, as audience members were seen fanning themselves throughout the game. While James topped the score with 25 points, the Spurs, led by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and a 22-year-old Kawhi Leonard, simply had too much in the tank. Manu Ginobili contributed 16 points off the bench as the Spurs laid down the foundation for an easy series. However, the franchise found themselves apologizing after the game due to the faulty AC.
Some of the Spurs’ players themselves were left disappointed, with Tony Parker claiming to ESPN that he wants to play the real Miami Heat, with LeBron James and the rest of the roster at their best. That eventually happened, as the Spurs ended up winning 4-1 against a full-strength Heat team, which had no further struggles with the air-conditioning.
