It is pretty difficult to come back from a 3-1 series lead. However, according to Charles Barkley, if you fail to close the series out in Game 5, you might as well suit up for Game 6 as if it’s your last. Following the Lakers and the Heats’ inability to close out their respective conference semifinals in Game 5, Sir Charles expressed the importance of winning Game 6 for both LeBron James and Jimmy Butler.
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Behind the leadership of the All-Star duo of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Purple & Gold managed to get the best of Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors. After going 1-1 at the Chase Center to begin the series, the Lakers won both their home games to take a 3-1 series lead.
On the other hand, after sustaining a loss in Game 1, and playing without Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat defeated the New York Knicks in Games 2, 3, and 4.
However, both the teams are in a similar position, having lost Game 5 on the road, as Charles Barkley so vehemently talked about in the most recent episode of Inside the NBA.
“Pressure switches to you on Game 6”: Charles Barkley
After the conclusion of both contests, the Inside the NBA panel discussed the chances of the Warriors and the Knicks coming back from a 3-1 deficit.
The Round Mound of Rebound spoke about the psychology of losing game 5 on the road after taking a 3-1 lead. Stating that the Lakers & the Heat need to treat Game 6 as Game 7, Chuck explained the momentum shift in the series following a Game 5 win for the two trailing teams.
“The Heat are in the exact same situation as the Lakers. That next game is their Game 7. I mean, the Lakers and the Heat, they both gotta win, in my opinion, gotta win Game 6. I’ve been in that situation where you’re up 3-1, you don’t wanna say it and you don’t wanna admit it, but once that pendulum swings… you know if you lose Game 6 at home, you’re not gonna win Game 7.
It’s so much pressure cause that Game 7 is always on the road so you’re under so much stress, like ‘ok, we wanna win this thing in 5’, but now the pressure switches to you on Game 6. And then you’re like ‘we gotta win this thing’ because in Game 7, that other team got so much juice and so much energy.”
Earlier on the show, Barkley was pretty straightforward in stating that Darvin Ham’s boys had no chance of winning Game 7 at the Chase Center. If the Lakers wished to advance to the WCF, winning Game 6 was their only way to do so.
“They better wrap this thing up in 6. They got 0 chance of winning back in San Francisco.”
Has Sir Charles ever blown a 3-1 lead?
When Barkley talks about the urgency for the Lakers and the Heat to win Game 6, he talks from personal experience.
During the 1995 postseason, drawing the Phoenix Suns jersey, Barkley led the Arizona-based franchise to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference Semifinals.
However, behind the excellence of Hakeem Olajuwon, the Houston Rockets became only the 5th team in NBA history to rally back from a 3-1 deficit.
A tough one for Charles Barkley to bear, without a doubt. And as he would have you believe, it is a loss he doesn’t want to see either of LeBron James or Jimmy Butler bearing.
