« The gangsters in the bubble don’t count, the 2020 title isn’t worth anything »

These 2021 playoffs return to a certain normality, obviously welcome after the strangeness of the bubble in 2020. The latter has never stopped talking, proof with this new punchline that the Lakers and the Heat will appreciate …

The public, the atmosphere, the almost overflowing rooms, the intensity. All these ingredients are essential to a perfect experience in the playoffs, and they were sorely missed in 2020. Faced with an unprecedented pandemic, the NBA then played the best part by managing at all costs to finish the season, at the cost of a very strange post-season …

The Lakers have been crowned, but the legitimacy of this ring has never ceased to provoke thorny debates. On the one hand, those who consider it to be one of the hardest titles to win in history. On the other, those who consider that this line on the prize list is worth absolutely nothing as the dice had been loaded.

What is certain is that Charles Barkley can be placed in the latter category. Guest of Dan Le Batard’s show, the Chuckster showed his usual outspokenness to discuss the case:

Listen, this basketball in the bubble there… The gangsters of the bubble, that does not count. The title of 2020 is worthless.

This will please the Lakers and their fans, so proud to have gleaned this ring in Orlando last year!

Where Barkley scores a point is on the difference in levels between, for example, the 2 finalists of the 2020 edition. The Heat, so impressive in the bubble, had a sluggish season concluded with a humiliating sweep at the hands Bucks. As for the Lakers, they also failed to overtake the first round …

Such a judgment, however, seems a bit excessive. Those who have gone far in the famous “Bubble” have also deserved it, by taming at best certain elements compared to the competition. From there to making a title more or less valuable than the others in history? Everyone will have their own opinion.

Charles Barkley no longer wants to hear about the bubble, or even from those who won the title there. According to Sir Charles, that doesn’t count, period!