On Friday, Dukes and Bell were joined by NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley. He had some interesting thoughts on Nate McMillan's $25,000 fine for "detrimental public comments asserting bias by the NBA relating to the 2020-21 playoffs."
For context, here are Nate McMillan's full comments:
"I've gone as far as saying the league wants this, they need this. ... New York, you know, this is a big market. It's a big market for the league and New York has been out of the playoffs for a number of years. And this is a team that our league, they want to see. There's a huge fanbase. They want to see New York in the playoffs. They want to see the Lakers in the playoffs. Teams like that, the Boston Celtics, they want to see these teams in the playoffs, and I put New York in that category, that the league wants to see it, everybody wants to see this.
Even to the fact that, our game was moved to Sunday. They want to see this. So yes, we have talked about that. We have talked about the advantages of this situation and some things that we're going to have to face going into the game with kind of everyone picking New York to win. And a lot of folks wanting to see New York in the playoffs. So it's a battle, it's a challenge, that just being New York, all of that comes with playing in New York. And they've had a really good season. So I think the NBA is excited about them being back in the playoffs."
When asked about his thoughts on this, Charles Barkley said, "Well first of all they shouldn't have fined him. That was bogus... I think the NBA is great when the Knicks win..."
He's probably right about that, too. The Knicks hail from what many would consider to be the media capital of the world and are one of the most popular teams in the country. When they are good, they have a lot of eyes watching, and more eyes watching equal more dollars for the league. McMillan just pointed something out that we have readily understood for a long time.
But Charles Barkley took those thoughts a step further and wound up making his pick as to who will win this series, "But I tell you what, I think Atlanta gonna win this series... I think Atlanta has more weapons. Listen, Julius Randle has been fantastic all year, but if you look at it from a basketball standpoint, Atlanta will probably have the next two or three maybe four best players in this series... if you need a basket, I think Atlanta has more guys that can get a basket."
The Atlanta Hawks' depth is likely their biggest strength coming in to this matchup with the Knicks. On any given night, some combination of Trae Young, John Collins, Clint Capela, or Bogdan Bogdanovic can take the lead for this team. The same can't be said for the Knicks as they are a mere 8-13 in games in which Randle doesn't score 20+ points - the Knicks are 32-18 in games he eclipses that threshold (he was inactive in the final game of the season).
The recipe for Atlanta's success is clear, although anything but easy. Ultimately, it's safe to say we are in for a fantastic series and Sunday cannot come soon enough.