Charles Barkley Says Only One Team Can Stop the Warriors from Winning Another Title

By Ross Kelly October 18, 2018 at 2:20pm

If you are a betting man, and Charles Barkley most certainly is, then it would be wise to put money on the Boston Celtics to challenge the Golden State Warriors this season, according to the NBA Hall of Famer turned TNT analyst.

The Warriors are heavy favorites to win their third straight NBA championship and fourth title in five years. To start the season, their odds are listed at minus-200 in multiple sportsbooks, and no other franchise in the last 30 years has been the odds-on favorite to win the championship at the start of a season.

While Barkley won’t exactly be picking against the Warriors, he did say Thursday that only one team has the talent to beat the Warriors in a seven-game series.

“I think realistically the only team that could beat (the Warriors) is the Boston Celtics,” Barkley said on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption.” “The Celtics are loaded. Now they have to make it work because they have an overabundance of talent. I think the Rockets took a step back losing Luc (Mbah a Moute) and Trevor (Ariza). But, on paper, just on paper, the Celtics have more talent than the Golden State Warriors.”

The Celtics have the next best odds of winning the championship: Westgate SuperBook lists them at plus-500. The Rockets come in third with odds of plus-600.

Since Brad Stevens took over the Celtics in 2013, they have increased their win total each season. They have also made the Eastern Conference Finals in each of the past two seasons before bowing out to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Boston won 55 games last season despite playing the entire year without All-Star Gordon Hayward. Additionally, Kyrie Irving was injured late in the season and missed the team’s playoff run.

Those two are back healthy, and the progression of young players Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum has made the Celtics the team to beat in the East.

Do you think the Warriors and Celtics will meet in the NBA Finals?

Boston has also had recent success against Golden State as the teams have split their last six meetings dating back three seasons. No other team in the Eastern Conference has more than two wins over the Warriors over the last three years.

While Barkley said the Celtics have the talent to beat the Warriors, that doesn’t exactly mean Boston will knock off the defending champs.

Asked by TNT co-host Ernie Johnson what would keep Golden State from winning another title, Sir Charles responded in a way that shows why he’s won three Sports Emmy awards.

Charles Barkley knows how to stop the Warriors 😂

📹: @NBAonTNT https://t.co/QOI7a93Xzl

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) October 17, 2018

“Injuries, hurricanes, tornadoes, snowstorms, man-made stuff. Something man-made. Chernobyl. … Typhoons,” Barkley said.

Chernobyl isn’t on the Warriors’ schedule, but the Celtics are: The two teams will meet Jan. 26 in Boston and again Mar. 5 in Oakland.

If they face off a third time this season, it would come in the NBA Finals, which would be the Warriors’ fifth straight appearance and the Celtics’ first appearance since 2010.

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