Charles Barkley doesn’t seem to understand Knicks fans

Charles Barkley hated “annoying” Knicks fans last month. This month, he loves them as he prepares for the NBA Finals. But the truth is, he doesn’t understand them.

Barkley joined Adam Schein’s Mad Dog Sports Radio show Monday morning on SiriusXM to preview ESPN’s NBA Finals matchup between the Knicks and San Antonio Spurs. And when asked about his favorite storylines heading into Game 1 of the Finals Wednesday night, Barkley couldn’t help but fawn over the same Knicks fans he was complaining about just last month.

“The New York Knicks got a chance to do something so special. I’m not gonna lie, last year in the Conference Finals, we traveled, and man, it’s a different thing being in New York,” Barkley admitted to Schein. “I know New Yorkers are annoying. But man, they’re right. When the Knicks are doing good, it’s a different energy in that city.”

Barkley and the rest of the Inside the NBA crew traveled to New York and Indiana for the Eastern Conference Finals on TNT last season. This season, they’ll be on site for the NBA Finals on ESPN.

“It was one of the most amazing things those three games we went to in New York,” Barkley said of the Eastern Conference Finals last season. “And then now you’re gonna put it on steroids going to the Finals. For me, being able to do the Finals for the first time, to get the New York Knicks in the Finals…I’m so glad we’re gonna get to do the games. But for Adam Silver this is a dream matchup to get the Knicks against Victor.”

Last month, Barkley expanded on why he considers New Yorkers “annoying,” complaining about the way they reacted when the Knicks were down 2-1 to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round back in April.

“New Yorkers, why are they so annoying?” Barkley said on Inside the NBA last month. “I’m talking about New York Knicks fans. When we were in Atlanta, 10 days ago, when the Knicks were down 2-1, we were in the hotel, same hotel as the Knicks. ‘What do you think? Should we fire Mike Brown and go get Giannis?’

“This was when they were down 2-1. This is 10 days ago, they’re like ‘Chuck, what do you think?’ I said, ‘Man, they just down 2-1, relax.’ And they were like, ‘No, we gotta get rid of Mike Brown. He’s not taking us farther. We got to go get Giannis and blah, blah, blah.’ A week later, they’re like ‘We’re going to the Finals.’”

And they were right! Things were bleak there for a moment, but a few days later, the Knicks looked like a team capable of making it to the Finals, and here they are.

The Knicks entered the season with championship expectations, having replaced head coach Tom Thibodeau with Mike Brown after falling just two wins short of the NBA Finals. Anything less than a Finals appearance this year would have been considered a disappointment and likely would have prompted drastic offseason changes.

Barkley does not seem to get that. He doesn’t seem to understand that just because the Knicks were bad for two decades, it doesn’t mean their fans need to just be happy to be here. There was a lot of pressure on this team to get to the Finals. To their credit, the Knicks fixed whatever was wrong over the first three games against the Hawks and reached the Finals in historic fashion.

But if they didn’t get to the Finals, what does Barkley think would have happened? They fired a head coach who took them to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. If they got knocked out in the first round, it would have been an embarrassment.

Knicks fans care; they are loyal to a fault. And the passion Barkley fawned over as he looks forward to the energy in New York during the NBA Finals is the same passion that had Knicks fans wondering if the team would be overhauled when they were down 2-1 to the Hawks. Fans are not objective. They’re passionate, they’re emotional, they’re reactive. But even when they start to turn on their favorite teams, they’re always just one win away from being lured right back.