You can always depend on Charles Barkley to deliver a good soundbite. Prior to the Nets’ overtime win over the Knicks on Monday night, Barkley gave an interview on ESPN Radio New York’s “The Mike Lupica Show”, and had this to say when asked for his opinion on the Knicks and the Nets courtesy of SportsRadioInterviews.com:
“…I told you the only two concerns I’ve got with the Knicks are defense and rebounding. If you see, even when they were winning, they weren’t rebounding. … Every game they won during that stretch, they got out rebounded. I said, ‘I don’t think they are going to keep their same defensive intensity for the simple fact that those guys have never played defense other than Tyson Chandler.’”
“The Nets are better at every position and they’ve got a much better bench. I mean, take away Carmelo Anthony. Deron Williams is a better point guard. Joe Johnson is a better No. 2. Gerald Wallace is a better No. 3. Kris Humphries is a better No. 4. I like Brook Lopez’s game…Then when you go to the bench, I like Andray Blatche. I like Reggie Evans. I like Marshon Brooks. I do. I just like everything better about the Nets, just as a team, and it’s going to take them a little while to put it all together, but at the end of the day the Nets are going to have a much better team than the Knicks.”
Don’t kill the messanger Knicks fans. Barkley makes some excellent points, but I’m not sure that I’m ready to declare that Nets would beat the Knicks in a seven game series in May. Let’s hope that both teams stay competitive so that we can watch the NBA’s newiest rivarly in the playoffs.