One week after Team USA completed its mission of capturing its fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal, there is still a lot of chatter about how they did so.
Winning the gold in Paris was no easy feat, in fact it took a 17-point comeback against a game and very savvy Serbia squad in the semifinals to even reach the gold medal matchup against host nation France.
While the team didn’t pull away in that one either (winning 98-87) behind the magic of Steph Curry, they were able to hold off the Victor Wembanyama-led French team.
Overall, Team USA’s effort throughout totality of the tournament wasn’t nearly as dominant as many believed it would be. One person who wasn’t impressed by their performance was NBA legend Charles Barkley.
Barkley And Perkins Trade Barbs
When the always outspoken Barkley mentioned that the team shouldn’t have any trouble in the Olympics, there were many who agreed. NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins wasn’t on board with the 1993 NBA MVP’s proclamation, calling it “asinine.” Perkins used the fact that the world had gotten better as a whole, and this in his opinion wasn’t the strongest Team USA squad.
In retrospect, Perkins was correct, and during an appearance on the “Dan Le Batard Show,” Barkley had a verdict about Big Perk when asked about their back-and-forth.
“Don’t bring up a guy who averaged five points a game,” Barkley said. “I’m not going to stoop to his level. You average five points a game. Shut the hell up.”
This spat between Barkley and Perkins is the latest in a beef between the two former NBA big men, and from the sounds of it Barkley isn’t interested in going back and forth with a former player who was nowhere near the player he was. And if we’re being truthful, he’s also not in the same ballpark as Barkley as an analyst either.
Gold Medal Or Bust
Not only did Barkley believe that Team USA should dominate the competition, he went as far as to say if they didn’t complete the mission they should stay in France. During an appearance on “Podcast P with Paul George,” Barkley expounded on what he meant.
“Listen, if they lose we can’t let them back in in the country. We can’t. I told them they can’t come back. I mean, because with the team we got, I mean, it’s no excuse for us to lose the gold medal. All they got to do is go out there and play hard, play unselfish, because that’s really the key.”
Going against that winning formula is what almost cost them in the semifinals against Serbia, but the brilliance of Curry, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant overcome a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to win 95-91.
