After a historic 41 points in Game 1, Victor Wembanyama’s scoring was cut in half in Game 2. Did the Oklahoma City Thunder find their Wemby stopper? But the avid watchers know that the current unanimous DPOY was manhandled the entire night by the reigning champions, and especially by their big Isaiah Hartenstein. While the fans and broadcasters called it out, legend turned analyst Charles Barkley thinks otherwise.

“You people at home and on TV talking about they were physical with Wemby, man, y’all need to stop it,” began Chuck. “I’ve been kissed harder. Was he physical putting a body on him? See that Modesto Gallardo, could you stop it? That little stuff he was doing, Hartenstein, I love Hartenstein, but he just put a body on Wemby. It wasn’t overly aggressive; he didn’t hit, there was no excessive fouls, but for you people thinking that’s physicality, y’all need to shut the hell up.”

On Thursday night, Charles Barkley was very clear that what Hartenstein did was legal. He even called out the Twitter user, ‘Modesto Gallardo’, who used a WWE Clip of Shane McMahon choking the Undertaker from behind to prove his point. But the Chuckster rightly pointed out that IHart never choked Victor Wembanyama. However, what the Inside the NBA analyst failed to acknowledge was that the Thunder star was overly physical as he grabbed and hooked Wemby’s arm to push him around.

For Charles Barkley, it was reminiscent of the times of the 80s and the 90s, physical basketball. That’s why he dismissed the takes from the commentators and even other analysts on social media. Reggie Miller was on duty, and in one of his clips, he rightly pointed out, “Again, he has all the weight. He’s just holding, grabbing, he’s clenching, and he’s trying on wear on Wembanyama.” Similarly, veteran NBA analyst Bill Simmons tweeted, “I didn’t think Hartenstein was playable in this series — but if he’s gonna be allowed to maul and grab Wemby like this on every play he should play 48 minutes. This is hilarious.”

Fans were clearly upset and even made multiple clips of Isaiah Hartenstein highlights, which were him just pushing and shoving Victor Wembanyama. It also featured an infamous clip where he grabbed Stephon Castle by the hair and pulled him to the floor as they fought for a rebound early in the fourth quarter. To everybody’s surprise, the Spurs did not get the whistle. In fact, that ended with a 3-pointer by the Thunder’s Jared McCain, with no foul called.

How Hartenstein’s targeted attack threw Victor Wembanyama off his game

In Game 1, Wembanyama scored 41 points while grabbing 24 rebounds, dishing out three assists, and adding three blocks and a steal in 49 minutes. The French star even had 13 free-throw attempts and made 12. But Game 2 was a different story. Wemby shot just two free throws Wednesday night, and he was also forced to stay away from the paint. He made five of his eight field goal attempts in the paint and was 3-for-7 from three-point range.

In Game 1, Wembanyama was 14-for-25 from the field in Game 1, with only four attempts coming outside the paint. Hartenstein’s presence in Game 2 pushed Wemby out of the paint. Because of this, the Spurs also lost the rebounding battle. Again, in game 1, nine of his 24 rebounds came on the offensive end, but on Wednesday, the 22-year-old could only manage five offensive rebounds as IHart’s nuisance caused a lot of problems. Even their head coach dismissed the notion that Hartenstein was being overly physical.

Daigneault said, “That’s a physical brand that you have to deal with around the basket.” So excessive fouls and a lack of whistle were the main concerns that drew the ire of Spurs fans.