The Cavaliers stomped the Hawks last night in a playoff game that wasn't even as close as the final 123-98 score would indicate. It was so bad that, after it ended, Charles Barkley did what he's paid to do and analyzed the game told Atlanta that they should have responded to Cleveland running up the score by intentionally trying to injure a Cavaliers player. The Cavaliers set a new NBA record by hitting 25 three-pointers during the contest—including 18 in the first half—but a handful of those threes came at the end of the game when it was already well out of hand.
You can listen to what Barkley had to say here:
"The Atlanta Hawks got to take somebody out," he said. "Let me tell you something. Take ‘em out! You’re not trying to hurt them. When a team is just embarrassing you, shooting threes when the game is way over, just trying to set a record, you have to knock the hell out of them. Not for this game, but to set the tone for the next game."
That, in turn, prompted this response sick burn from Barkley on a medium with far more reach than a tweet:
Just so you don't have to spend your day Googling their past, here's a clip of Oakley and Barkley from 1987 that may, at least partially, explain why the two don't like each other. Jump to the 2:48 mark to save time:
Here's another clip from 1996:
And here's a New York Daily News excerpt from 1999:
"The unofficial start to the NBA season came sometime Wednesday afternoon when Charles Oakley said he belted his longtime nemesis Charles Barkley in the face during the players union meeting. 'I heard what he was saying about me in Atlantic City and I didn't like it,"'Oakley said last night. 'I'm fed up with him. 'I told him you need to change your name. I'm the only Charles.' [...]
"Oakley claims Barkley plays the punk when he tries to be friendly off the court. 'He did that the other day,' Oakley said. 'He thought everything was cool, but I'm not his friend. Then everybody grabbed us.'
"Oakley allegedly slapped Barkley across the face and the two were quickly separated by the Knicks' Chris Mills and Indiana's Antonio Davis."
Sure makes you nostalgic for the '90s, doesn't it?