Charles Barkley made a plea to NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the Indian Pacers earlier this week to allow John Haliburton, Tyrese Haliburton’s dad, back in the arena for Games 3 and 4 of the Knicks-Pacers Conference Finals. The elder Haliburton has been banned from attending games for his postgame confrontation with Giannis Antetokounmpo after his son eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
Advertisement
Barkley argued that John has served his time and wouldn’t do something so stupid again. John did express contrition after the incident, and he accepted his punishment. Tyrese even came out and condemned what his dad did. Then again, the ban hasn’t stopped John from having fun.
He was spotted after Indiana’s Game 1 win against the Knicks dancing and celebrating in a bar, even mimicking his son’s Reggie Miller “choke” tribute. There’s been no word on whether John will be allowed back in the arena when the series shifts to Indiana on Sunday, but Gilbert Arenas jumped into the issue on Gil’s Arena and came at Barkley for not understanding the situation.
Arenas repeatedly called Barkley an “imbecile” for his plea to Silver, because as he pointed out, it was the Pacers who banned John from games, not the commissioner.
“Can you tell that imbecile that he’s wrong? You don’t need to call Adam Silver, because Adam Silver did not suspend him,” said Arenas. “Do you not watch the game, or is it just the producers that are feeding you your stuff?”
Arenas is implying, as he has in the past, that Barkley gets all his talking points from his earpiece and doesn’t actually watch the games. But as is often the case, he’s hilariously wrong here. Barkley pleaded with Silver and the Pacers to let John come to the games.
“Listen, he paid his dues. It shouldn’t be indefinite. He’s been punished enough. He would never do anything that stupid again. Adam, you know how much I love you. My man, Kevin Pritchard [president of basketball operations at the Pacers], y’all let Mr. Haliburton back in the building for Game 3,” Barkley had said.
In any case, does Arenas think Silver couldn’t get the ban lifted with one phone call to the Pacers?
Arenas also took issue with Barkley’s use of the term “indefinite suspension”, and he “corrected” him by saying that the suspension was worded to say “for the foreseeable future” instead.
With all due respect to Arenas’ English language assertion, but doesn’t “foreseeable future” pretty much mean “indefinite”?
Arenas, the youngest brother, who doesn’t get enough attention
The whole thing between Arenas and Barkley is so petty and dumb, and only distracts from the great stuff we’ve seen on the court. For instance, the amazing script that played out in Game 1 between the Pacers and the Knicks?
Arenas repeatedly mentioned that he’s calling Barkley names because the NBA legend did the same to him. These two have taken shots at each other over the years, but the temperature has been rising lately.
To sum it all up, Arenas said some not-so-nice things about Chuck after the Inside the NBA personality ranked LeBron James seventh on his all-time list. Then Barkley shot back by calling him an idiot and implying that he’s just a little fish trying to chase clout in a bigger pond.
It’s hard to take Arenas seriously in general, especially when he’s sitting there in face paint trying to start a fight with someone who’s about 100x bigger than he is in the NBA media space. It’s even harder when all the points Arenas is trying to make are just wrong anyway.
There are some good beefs in the NBA. Draymond Green versus Rudy Gobert is one of them. Tyrese Haliburton versus all of New York is another.
When it involves a current player, a little hatred can heighten drama and make the games more interesting. When it’s two media personalities squabbling, it’s much less entertaining, and in fact, it’s kind of annoying.
The Knicks and Pacers will continue their series Friday at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. We’ll certainly be hearing from Barkley before, during, and after the game. Let’s just hope he keeps it to what’s on the court and doesn’t give Arenas the attention he so obviously craves.
