NBA
The internet reacts to Charles Barkley losing $1 billion bet to Shaquille O’Neal as Heat lose to the Hawks: ‘He’s broke now’
Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.
All posts by Antonio KozlowUpdated12 Apr 2023
Former NBA legend Charles Barkley felt so confident that the Heat would beat the Hawks in Tuesday’s Play-In Tournament contest for a place in the Eastern Conference’s playoffs, that he bet a billion dollars on live television with Shaquille O’Neal for Miami to win.
The TNT analyst told his co-host that he felt positive to bet because he believes the Hawks are a terrible team. “But I think because of (Erik) Spoelstra and those three guys. … Yeah they going to beat the Hawks, come on, the Hawks stink,” Barkley said. “Bet it whatever you want to. A billion dollars.”
Take a look at the exact moment when Barkley made the bet:
Charles Barkley is willing to put a BILLION on the Heat to win tonight 🤣💰
Chuck: “[The Heat] are gonna beat the Hawks, come on, the Hawks stink.”
Shaq: “Bet it.”
Chuck: “Bet it? Whatever you want to. A billion dollars!”pic.twitter.com/fWT6Dmmlo9
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 11, 2023
Well, the former basketball star was probavbly having a heart attack by the end of the match’s first half, as Atlanta got out to a 24-point lead. Even though the Heat tried their best to produce a great comeback, the Georgia side still ended up winning by an 11-point margin, and secured the conference’s seventh seed.
As the Hawks took home the win, the internet went into a meltdown to make fun of Barkley’s billion-dollar bet, mostly telling him it’s time to pay up.
“He’s broke now”, one Twitter account said. “Lawyer Twitter is there enough for a verbal contract here or nah?” another wrote.
Most of them pointed out how Barkley is usually wrong about his takes, and mocked him about how you should always bet against his point of view. “Chuck is literally always wrong. And they love him for it lol. What a life,” one user said.
“Chuck is always just guessing, not really analysing. Just like Stephen A, Skip, Kendrick, Colin, etc.,” some trolled the whole ESPN panel of experts. “Who Chuck got next game. I’m going with the opposite GUARANTEE !!!!!!” another assured.
Atlanta Hawks are now set for first-round clash against the Celtics
The Hawks were guided to victory by their point guard Trae Young, as he dropped 25 points, won 8 rebounds, and handed out 7 assists on a 44.4% overall shooting. The team’s center Clint Capela also had a strong performance as he added 4 points, but produced a game-high 21 rebounds and two blocks to secure his team’s backcourt.
Check out last night’s highlights as Atlanta won 116 to 105:
On the other side of the court, Miami was led by veteran Kyle Lowry, who recorded a game-high 33 points to his name (with 6 three-pointers on 68.8% efficiency), and added 4 rebounds and 5 assists to his stat line.
With this triumph, coach Nate McMillan’s team have finally redeemed themselves as they’d lost five matches to Miami in 2022’s first round of playoffs. The Georgia team is now focused to play the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the conference’s second stage, a team who’ve beat them all three times this campaign.
