“He is a hell of a player” – Charles Barkley Rips Apart Warriors, Picks 3-Time All-Star as Difference Maker in Timberwolves-Warriors Playoff Series

Golden State Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves will lock horns in the highly-anticipated Western Conference semifinals. Both teams surprised the second-seeded and third-seeded teams in the playoffs and it will be only the second time when No. 6 and No. 7 will meet in the NBA playoffs. Ahead of the series opener on Tuesday, expert opinions are coming in big numbers.

NBA on TNT analyst Charles Barkley comes up with his honest opinion on All-Star battle between Stephen Curry and Anthony Edwards. Barkley’s prediction for the Minnesota-Golden State series would not impress Curry fans. According to him, the Timberwolves are going to eliminate the Warriors in the conference semifinals.

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Charles Barkley is running with the Wolves and Anthony Edwards

Charles Barkley was talking on TNT’s show, “Inside the NBA” where the hosts were discussing the Warriors’ win in Game 7 which helped them to reach conference semifinals. The discussion moved to the Warriors’ next assignment against the Wolves. Barkley looked confident on picking Minnesota and his solely reason was Anthony Edwards.

“I’m going to take Minnesota,” Barkley predicted. “I think Minnesota’s playing really, really well right now.

“[Edwards] is a hell of a player. His confidence is sky high.”

Anthony Edwards is producing an excellent season for the Timberwolves and he averaged 26.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.2 steals against the Lakers in first-round playoff series. The 23-year-old helped Minnesota to outclass the Lakers 4-1 to set a conference semifinal date with the Golden State Warriors.

Barkley feels it won’t be easy for the Warriors to counter the Timberwolves led by Anthony Edwards. He picks out Anthony Edwards as the difference-maker of the playoff series.

“I think the interesting matchup is how often they’re going to play small,” Barkley added. “Because if they put Rudy [Gobert] out there, [the Warriors are] going to attack him in the pick-and-roll. And that’s just going to open up spots everywhere.“

“If he’s going to try to stay in front of [Curry], which he can’t, he would have to double. Minnesota’s going to have to go small a lot if they’re going to beat [the Warriors].”

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Meanwhile, his co-host, Shaquille O’Neal picked the Warriors over the Timberwolves. Both teams will go head to head on Tuesday in Minneapolis. The Warriors have a terrific record against the Wolves and they owned the regular-season series 3-1.

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