George Karl’s birthday only keeps getting better. The former Denver coach is reveling in his team tying the series against Minnesota. But more importantly, he’s seeing Charles Barkley’s prediction crumble. Not common for the Chuck Guarantee to fail ridiculously but only two games ago, Barkley called the series in favor of the Wolves on TNT. Not only that, he predicted absolute humiliation for Denver. Since then Nikola Jokic won the MVP award and led his team to tie the series.
The Spurs legend was on X giving Chuck a little love before ending the post with an absolute stinger. “Love each of these guys but hopefully they owned their weak analysis of this series,” he wrote while requoting the clip of Barkley’s ‘weak analysis’ five days ago.
Minnesota had won back-to-back games at the start of the Western Conference Semifinals. The results of Game 2 had Barkley calling the series prematurely. “This series is a wrap,” Barkley said on Inside the NBA. “Minnesota is better than the Nuggets. No disrespect, they don’t have an advantage. The MVP is getting outplayed, they don’t have an advantage anywhere. Jamal Murray, I think he’s still hurt a little bit, but other than that, they don’t have an advantage anywhere. This series is a wrap… The Minnesota Timberwolves are for real, they’re gonna sweep the Denver Nuggets. Period.” Barkley may have jinxed it then.
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Love each of these guys but hopefully they owned their weak analysis of this series https://t.co/ivyDk84AQX
— George Karl (@CoachKarl22) May 13, 2024
The Nuggets overcame the 2-0 deficit winning Game 3 117-90 with Jamal Murray coming off the bench to match Jokic with 24 points a piece. The Joker was still savoring the 2024 MVP title he won by 79 votes going into Game 4. The Nuggets tied this series with a 115-107 win. Jokic scored 35 points, while Murray went 19 points and Aaron Gordon made 27 points.
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George Karl, who celebrated his 73rd birthday on May 12, coached the Nuggets from 2005 to 2013 before Jokic arrived in the NBA. He seems to be on their side for this series. Charles Barkley didn’t get that upset he was predicting but he’s not giving up on his final analysis for the series.
Chuck is sticking with his prediction
Chuck, Shaq, and Kenny have become huge believers in the Anthony Edwards effect these playoffs. They’ve maintained that he’s the only one who can stop the 2024 MVP Jokic in the paint. The Chuckster called Game 4 a must-win for the Wolves before it concluded in the opposite of what he wanted. But in this game, Ant went a staggering 44 points.
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The Wolves are in the second round for the first time since 2004 after sweeping Chuck’s beloved Suns in the first round. Though they lost Game 4, the Inside Crew were colored impressed by Antman. Charles Barkley very eloquently summarized Edwards as, “That’s a bad man.” Though the MVP is on the other team, the Inside Guys bestowed a symbolic ‘Bad Man’ trophy on Edwards.
Sweep or not, Chuck is still sure the series will end the way he predicts. And it doesn’t match George Karl’s.