Barkley was never able to dominate one particular player when they were on the court.
Charles Barkley was an NBA superstar for numerous reasons, one of which was his fearlessness. Chuck never back down from a matchup, it’s true, but that didn’t mean he could outplay them all. Barkley once admitted that he had been set on fire by a single player during all of their on-court sparring sessions.
Popeye Jones was the one player, Sir Charles claimed, that he could never figure out. Barkley went so far as to say that he detested Jones for constantly possessing him, and that his feelings have remained the same to this day.
Barkley famously said on Open Court, “Popeye Jones is the one guy who gave me the business every single time, and I hate him to this day.” “You know, I have no idea why I was unable to stop this guy. It resembles… It defies explanation. Well, I really hope I could. I’m killing this guy.”
Charles wasn’t as good as Popeye?
Without a doubt, Barkley was a far superior NBA player to Jones—people don’t even need to search it up online. But when “The Round Mound of Rebound” faced Popeye in games, that’s not how it felt. As Barkley admitted, he told Jones every time they saw one other that Jones was a greater player than he was
“My guy’s Popeye Jones man, every time I see him I just shake his hand and say, ‘You a better man to me,'” Barkley continued.
Barkley’s greatest opponent
During his NBA career, Barkley was an undersized power forward who had to often battle against much bigger big men. Chuck claimed that Boston Celtics icon Kevin McHale was the best power forward he had ever faced, even though Popeye Jones was the only guy he couldn’t outmatch. Barkley, however, praised Tim Duncan as the greatest power forward of all time.
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