Charles Barkley may not have watched if he didn’t have to.
The TNT analyst and Basketball Hall of Fame couldn’t find a compelling reason to bait fans into watch the Bulls-Raptors matchup set to air Thursday night.
“Hey guys, I know we got the Bulls and the Raptors, but watch anyway!” said Barkley as the game was set to begin in Toronto.
Those who did stick around for Chicago’s 116-110 win over Toronto didn’t get much of a treat from the two sub-.500 teams, as they connected on just three of 13 shots to open the game, with eight points between then after four minutes of play.
Barkley and his “NBA on TNT” cohorts haven’t exactly hidden their feelings about their slate of games in recent weeks.
On Jan. 11, the network cut away from the Bucks’ 135-102 blowout of the Celtics — in the third quarter.
“So, this game is out of hand, obviously,” studio host Ernie Johnson said as he tried to transition to a different game. “100-62 is the score in Milwaukee. Celtics are resting the rest of their starters for the rest of the night, so we’re thinking let’s see what else is going on in the league.”
The plan — seemingly to go to the Thunder-Trail Blazers matchup — didn’t go much better, either.
“And Oklahoma City, by the way, is up 36 at the half so we’re not going there,” Johnson said, laughing.
An attempt to send that game to the Knicks-Mavericks game — a 47-28 score at the time — didn’t fit the bill either.
The game eventually went back to Bucks-Celtics.
“If you’re just picking us up here on TNT, we thank Ernie Johnson for taking us around the league,” one of the broadcasters said. “Ernie is gonna need a break.”
Sounds like he may not be the only one on the panel in need of some NBA respite.