Pay that man. That is the slogan going around most of the NBA’s circles. While the Los Angeles Lakers are slowly trying to turn things around, their victory against the Toronto Raptors came with a caveat. The free-throw discrepancy. Due to the huge difference between the two sides, the Lakers were able to eke out a victory leading to the viral rant via Darko Rajakovic, Head Coach of the Raptors. But, for our TNT crew, the outlook could not be more different. While Shaquille O’Neal was ready to jump to his former team’s support, his co-host wasn’t as kind. Further, Adam Silver and the NBA slapping a huge fine on Darko didn’t sit well anywhere.

Charles Barkley took no time in handing out his verdict on the matter. “He was a 100% correct. No team shoots 23 more free throws.” One foul in particular really stuck in the Chuckster’s grill. Simultaneously, Ernie Johnson was quick to supply the 23 to 2 free-throw differential in the 4th quarter alone.

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“The offensive foul they called when he made the 3 was one of the weakest calls I’ve seen in a long time.” O’Neal, however, was having none of it. “Stop whining.” But Chuck wasn’t willing to let it go that easily. “No, no, dude. You gotta watch it.” 

“They called a foul on a guy who set a pick on Anthony Davis. It wasn’t even close, Anthony just fell down, the guy hit the 3.” The bigger story out of that rant, however, was the ensuing fine. While Kenny “The Jet” Smith made a guess of $50,000, the real answer is half of that – 25k. Immediately, Chuck was bringing out his empathy card. “We should do a GoFundMe for him. Because he’s right.”

But, there was a deeper reason for the 1993 NBA MVP sticking up for Darko.

Charles Barkley has a unique thing

To him, the sole reason for supporting Rajakovic so vehemently was his passion. “I love it when coaches stick up for their players.” The verdict on the situation has been up for debate still. While the Last 2 Minute report confirmed the referees being in the right, so too was LeBron James.

The King was quick to claim that the sole reason for the difference in attempts was purely because his team didn’t foul their opponents. A point of order is that the 23-2 number doesn’t tell the full story. 10 of those 23 free throws were intentional fouls by Toronto to drag out the game.

However, with a few questionable calls, like the AD one Chuck mentioned, falling in LA’s favor, could the refs have given the game a different outcome on a few different calls?

Read More: Raptors Coach Darko Rajakovic Risks $50,000 Fine in Fuming Postgame Presser