The Minnesota Timberwolves faced elimination Tuesday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals. A Dallas Mavericks win would end the series while a Timberwolves victory would send the series back to Minnesota for Game 5.
With that in mind, Charles Barkley came up with the perfect motivational ploy for Dallas coach Jason Kidd—tell his team it was snowing in Minnesota.
No, really. Charles Barkley—and possibly the rest of the TNT crew—seems to believe it was snowing in Minnesota in late May. While everyone was laughing, it didn't appear to be a joke.
Charles Barkley at halftime last night: "If I'm Jason Kidd, I'm not going to talk about stats at halftime. I'm just going to show them the weather in Minnesota that's snowing and say, 'Y'all don't want to go back to this, do you?' That's all I'd say: 'Guys, it's snowing in… pic.twitter.com/Vb8rRiEpU9
"If I'm Jason Kidd II'm not going to talk about stats at halftime," said Barkley. "I'm just going to show them the weather in Minnesota. This snow. And say ya'll don't want to go back to this do ya? That's all that they got. It's snowing in Minnesota. It's hot as hell down here in Dallas, but its better than snow. Let's get this thing over with."
Where could this have come from? Well, it looked like it was snowing in Minnesota today. Fluffy cottonwood seeds gave Tuesday's Minnesota Twins-Kansas City Royals game a blizzard motif and a clip was making the rounds tonight.
If you have seasonal allergies, look away.
imagine being allergic to cottonwood pic.twitter.com/6HgLEaJPZY
A nightmare scenario, but not one that will require a shovel. Should the Timberwolves win tonight, Barkley will be happy to know it will actually be sunny and in the upper-70s in Minneapolis on Thursday.
UPDATE: Barkley was asked why he thought it was snowing in Minnesota during the postgame show. He said he had been sent a picture and Ernie Johnson told him that it was cottonwood.
STEPHEN DOUGLAS