NBA star Charles Barkley commented on a television show yesterday about Nets guard Ben Simmons' move to miss G4 due to back pain.
"After they lost G3, I knew he wasn't going to play. He can't play. First of all, there is no need for that. We've said before that it would be crazy for him to come back in this environment. So I don't think he should play this game anyway. But if he can't play last Saturday's G3 when they're 2-0 behind, there's no need to get him back when they're 0-3 behind. So, I personally think he should have tried to play the G3, because from Saturday to Monday, it was just a very short window of time.
"But if you look back at that Last Saturday Raptors game, Rookie of the Year Scotty Barnes, who was playing on the court with one leg in his track, he didn't try to do anything, he just wanted to say, 'I have to try to help my team.'" I don't even know if he scored. But he's trying. When your team is 2-0 behind, you have to fight to play. Buckley said.
"I'm so impressed with Scotty Barnes, but Ben Simmons, oh my God, Shaq is right. I don't care about the fans, they're important and meaningful, and I want to emphasize that. But I'll tell you, when the players don't respect you, that's a big deal. When the players say, 'We can't count on this guy. Fans come and go with the flow, and I love the fans, but Ben has come to this point and your teammates will question, 'Does this guy still want to play basketball?' That kind of thing obviously happened in Philadelphia, and now it's happening again. They'll think, 'We need something, we need something.' Remember they said this, 'He's going to play 20 minutes.' That's what they said last week. He would play for 20 minutes. 'Dude, try giving us 20 minutes.' If you play and you really can't play, we'll all say, 'Dude, thank you for trying.' Buckley said.