Charles Barkley didn’t even wait for the final buzzer to tear into the Cavaliers during their season-ending loss, which punched the Knicks’ ticket to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999.
The Cavaliers started off Monday’s elimination game strong before the Knicks overpowered them for over three quarters in what turned into a 130-93 loss for Cleveland at Rocket Arena.
The outcome seemed destined before halftime rolled around, and Barkley took the moment to rail on the Cleveland’s lack of effort.
“Kids at home, if you want to see what the word quit means: to give up. The verb of that: CA-VA-LI-ERS,” he said on “Inside the NBA” at the half. “This is what you see… They were down 29. This is just effort here. This is just effort.”
Barkley then had the producers play clips to highlight his point about the lack of effort from the Cavs.
“How do you give up 23 fastbreak points in a half?” Barkley asked. “Players aren’t going to say they quit, but you know what shows? Their actions.
“Lisa [Salters] and Malika [Andrews] were talking about [Cavs players] saying they believe. Well, I believed they were going to get their ass whooped and that’s what’s going to happen.”
The “Inside the NBA” crew didn’t stop there either.
After the loss, Kenny Smith said that he believed the Cavaliers “took a step backwards because it showed what you’re vulnerable to, to everyone else in the Eastern Conference.”
Smith added that the Cavaliers needed to change their offensive identity for Cleveland to take that step.
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 26, 2026"[The Cavs ] also took a step backwards because it showed what you're vulnerable to, to everyone else in the Eastern Conference."
Kenny Smith believes Cleveland needs to change their identity to be able to compete for a title ✍️ pic.twitter.com/zOY1LbyBvU
The comment was in response to comments from Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, who has taken plenty of criticism this series for not using timeouts in Game 1 as the Knicks mounted a historic comeback, and comments about how the Cavaliers were winning games in an analytical sense.
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