Charles Barkley Goes Nuclear on 'Stupid' Spurs After Game 4 Loss
The San Antonio Spurs suffered one of the biggest choke jobs in professional sports history when they blew a 29-point lead to the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The Spurs led most of the game, taking a 76-49 lead into halftime, and then went up 81-52 at one point in the third quarter.
But the Knicks kept clawing back, and the Spurs couldn't get anything going.
In the end, it was the Knicks pulling off the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, and taking a 3-1 series lead back to San Antonio's Frost Bank Center for Game 5 on June 13.
Charles Barkley Blasts 'Stupid' Spurs After Game 4 Loss
Following the game, Inside the NBA analyst Charles Barkley went nuclear on the Spurs for pulling off one of the biggest choke jobs of all time.
We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization."
"We saw the dumbest basketball team in the history of civilization," Barkley said.
"We saw they had a (29-point lead), took eight straight 3s. Like, that was some of the most mismanaged, stupid basketball. Hey, when you blow a 29-point lead, the other team has to help you. The San Antonio Spurs helped the New York Knicks win this game by doing some of the most stupid-ass stuff I've ever seen on the basketball court."
It's the harsh truth from Barkley, who did not hold back from his criticism of the Spurs.
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For whatever reason, San Antonio took this game for granted.
Instead of milking the clock and taking high-percentage shots, they were fine with chucking deep 3s early in the shot clock, giving the Knicks more possessions as the game went late.
The Spurs' players could not hit their shots, and instead of calling timeouts to get his team refocused, Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson just kept letting the Knicks do damage until it was too late.
Perhaps the biggest example of why Barkley called the Spurs a "stupid" team was when Spurs point guard De'Aaron Fox stole the ball with 13 seconds left. Instead of waiting for the Knicks to foul him, he went for a layup, was blocked, and the Knicks came back and scored on an OG Anunoby tip-in with just 1.2 seconds left on the clock that proved to be the game-winner.
It was an incredibly low-IQ play from the veteran Fox, and one that may have very well cost the Spurs the chance to win an NBA Championship.
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Odds Stacked Against Spurs to Pull Off Series Comeback
Now that they are down 3-1 in the series, the odds are stacked against San Antonio to come back and win this series.
In NBA history, there have been 37 times that a team has gone up 3-1 in the NBA Finals. 36 times, the team leading 3-1 has won the NBA Championship. Only one team has blown a 3-1 lead: the 2016 Golden State Warriors, who lost in seven games to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While the Spurs are still an excellent basketball team and you can't completely count them out of getting back into this series, the odds are certainly stacked against them, and history is not on their side.
The Spurs will have home-court advantage for Game 5, which should help them out. But it's not a guarantee that they will prevail, as San Antonio lost Games 1 and 2 of this series at home.
There is no doubt the Spurs are in deep trouble right now.
Certainly, they have the talent on the roster to make it interesting.
But all signs are pointing to them losing this series to the Knicks, and this Spurs team now risks being labeled as one of the biggest choke artists of all time after a historic Game 4 collapse that may haunt the city of San Antonio forever if they can't come back and beat the Knicks in the NBA Finals.
Related: Victor Wembanyama Points to Spurs' Biggest Problem After Finals Collapse
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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 8:52 AM.