Charles Barkley not pleased with NBA playoff schedule

Charles Barkley Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Charles Barkley has major complaint about NBA playoff schedule

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated 4/16/23

Charles Barkley thinks the NBA is doing fans a disservice with their playoff scheduling, at least for Sunday’s slate of games.

Barkley objected specifically to the scheduled tip-off of Game 1 between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets at 10:30 p.m. EST. He called the time inconsiderate to fans, especially on a day when the NBA was not competing with other major sports for national viewership.

"I have a problem with that game starting at 10:30pm… [That's] just wrong. I don't care what anybody says… We got to have some respect for the fans at some point."

Charles Barkley isn't a fan of the Timberwolves-Nuggets game starting very late pic.twitter.com/TQeNCS1mRX

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 16, 2023

“I have a problem with that game starting at 10:30,” Barkley said. “We have the whole day to ourselves. We should have played at 1 o’clock, 3 o’clock. To have that last game at 10:30 Eastern, that’s just wrong.

“Listen, we got to have some respect for the fans at some point. It ain’t fair for the people in Denver to be playing at 8:30 at night and they got to go to school tomorrow, so stop it.”

Shaquille O’Neal disagreed with Barkley, dismissing his complaints as mere whining. A lot of people are probably on Barkley's side here, though. The larger issue might be that the NBA does not want a West Coast playoff team to start at 10 a.m. PST. Even making Game 1 between the Miami Heat and Milwaukee Bucks the first contest of the day would still make for a noon start time in Milwaukee.

Barkley is not always a man of the people, but he is in this particular case. He probably has a point, too.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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