You know it’s intense when they start debating league rules on Inside the NBA. Charles Barkley was especially agonizing over timeouts and mistakes after the coach’s challenge that may have cost the Los Angeles Lakers Game 5. The series has ended with the Denver Nuggets advancing to the next round but all everyone can talk about is the timeout situation. Interestingly, he has Kenny Smith on his side but TNT’s resident big man, Shaquille O’Neal is a stickler for the rules.

“You made the mistake and I got screwed by your mistake, that doesn’t seem right,” Barkley said and Kenny agreed. But Shaq called it, “The letter of the law.” That almost broke out an extended debate when Chuck hoped Shaq would be pulled over for breaking traffic rules.

The Lakers successfully challenged a foul call on AD in the last quarter by using the final timeout with over 2 minutes to play. So when Jamal Murray made the go-ahead bucket with less than 4 seconds left, the Lakers didn’t have a timeout to advance the ball and they had to heave a shot from half-court at the buzzer.

The TNT crew debated that incident after the game ended 108-106 in Denver’s favor. Chuck isn’t saying that the outcome of the game would’ve changed, but he said the Lakers should’ve retained a timeout since they successfully challenged that call. “If you win a challenge and you lose a timeout, that doesn’t seem fair to me,” Barkley said. “I don’t understand why they win the challenge but lose the timeout. I want clarification.”

It’s why Kenny and Chuck argue that the rules don’t seem fair that successfully challenging a foul call punishes them by losing a timeout. NBA rules dictate that a team is not refunded a timeout, irrespective of whether it is a successful challenge or not. Ernie Johnson told them it’s to maintain the flow of the game. They’re welcome to seek clarification, according to Ernie, but changing it anytime soon is unlikely. Unless Adam Silver is watching.

Charles Barkley is particular about timeouts

Only a week ago, Barkley was left frustrated by the lack of timeouts in a game too. That was when the Philadelphia 76ers played the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden. A scuffle surrounding Tyrese Maxey broke out. Shaq, knowing what his bestie wanted to say, provoked him to, “Say it Chuck!” Indeed, Sir Charles said, “Call timeout! Call timeout!”

While head coach Nick Nurse said he called a timeout, the referees seemingly didn’t see or hear him so the game continued. Joel Embiid was critical about the missed calls after the game but Barkley then said he should move on from it.

While the rules are what they are, some do agree with Chuck. Do you think the NBA should refund timeouts for successfully challenging calls?