It’s hard to say what outspoken TNT analyst Charles Barkley ripped worse — the Knicks for hiking their season-ticket prices or the team’s lack of defense.
After calling Knicks ownership a “disgrace” yesterday on the radio, Barkley continued his attack on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” The NBA legend said, despite trading for offensively gifted Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks may be the worst defensive club in the history of basketball.
“Oh, they got Carmelo Anthony and everybody’s excited,” Barkley said. “You know, in the history of basketball . . . first of all, Carmelo’s a terrific player, Amar’e [Stoudemire’s] a terrific player and I like Landry Fields, but I gotta say, I watched the Knicks play. In the history of all basketball, they may be the worst defensive team ever. They play zero defense, and they’re not gonna do well in the long run.”
In an interview with WFAN earlier Monday, Barkley ripped Knicks brass for its plan to raise season-ticket prices 49 percent. Season-ticket prices had not been raised the past six years because of owner James Dolan’s policy of not raising them when the team doesn’t make the playoffs.
“That was a disgrace, a flat-out disgrace,” Barkley said. “Come on, that’s not fair at all. To raise tickets that much, and I understand that all these guys are trying to make money, but 50 percent is a little extreme. Let me rephrase that, a lot extreme.
“The Knicks have been stinking for a long time and these fans have always been loyal. For them to jab them like that with a 50 percent increase, that’s unfair.”
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Stoudemire said the Knicks owe the Pacers some payback after getting blown out in their own building Sunday.
“Yeah, it matters. We got to win. They beat us here in New York, so we’ve got to go back to Indiana and play the revenge game,” Stoudemire said.
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The Pacers’ former coach and radio analyst, Bob Leonard
, had a heart attack after Sunday night’s game at the Garden. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he is said to be in good condition. He is expected to return to Indianapolis this week.