{"id":662289,"date":"2026-05-24T12:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662289\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T12:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:50:08","slug":"i-got-an-answer-to-that-question-thats-lebron-charles-barkley-reacts-to-the-cavaliers-lifeless-performance-against-the-knicks-in-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/662289\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI got an answer to that question…That’s LeBron\u201d \u2014 Charles Barkley reacts to the Cavaliers\u2019 lifeless performance against the Knicks in Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite being down 0-2 to the New York Knicks<\/a> heading to Saturday night’s Game 3, fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> were not yet worried because they were in the same spot in the first two rounds and their team came out fighting in Games 3 and 4 to tie the series and then went on to win.<\/p>\n

However, the Cleveland fans, which included power couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, did not see that resilient Cavaliers team tonight. Instead, the team lacked the energy, effort and urgency needed in a must-win game.<\/p>\n

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The Knicks scored 37 first-quarter points and took a 10-point lead at the end of one and never looked back, easily winning Game 3 without resistance, 121-108.<\/p>\n

While dissecting Game 3, Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith<\/a> noted that, while the Knicks were going for the jugular, the Cavs looked lifeless and lacked someone to rally the troops.<\/p>\n

“They’re just dominating,” said<\/a> Smith of the Knicks. “But nobody from Cleveland is stepping up. There’s no leadership. Who’s walking in that locker room saying what you have to do, what we need to do?”<\/p>\n

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Charles Barkley<\/a> had the perfect reply.<\/p>\n

“Well, I got an answer to that question,” replied Barkley. “Who’s that?” Kenny asked.<\/p>\n

“That’s LeBron James<\/a>. That’d be it,” said Chuck.<\/p>\n

The calls for LeBron have started<\/p>\n

Of course, the Cavs won’t have LeBron<\/a> for Game 4, but no team has come back from a 0-3 deficit in the NBA playoffs and won the series, so, sorry to say, unless something dramatic happens, the Cavs are as good as dead. The best they can do now is carry the momentum of their first ECF appearance since LeBron left and get Bron again.<\/p>\n

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The LBJ reunion talks have been going on for months now. But with the Cavs on the brink, the conversations will get more serious. Barkley’s reply was no surprise, as he has consistently said that he wants LeBron to finish his career in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Chuck talked to Sports Illustrated’s Jimmy Traina a couple of days ago, and he reiterated his desire for James to return to Cleveland because it is the perfect fit for him<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I hope he goes back to Cleveland. I think that\u2019ll be a great way for him to finish his career. He stays in L.A. They\u2019re not going to be competitive \u2026 and also at some point they got to turn the team over to Luka, and let it be his team,\u201d stated<\/a> Barkley. \u201cI think Cleveland would be a perfect fit for him because that team is too inconsistent, and he\u2019s such a great worker. He\u2019ll stop some of the inconsistencies, and if he were to go to Cleveland, I think they\u2019d be the favorite in the East next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related: \u201cIt\u2019s all part of the book\u201d – LeBron James explains why he embraces battles with the NBA\u2019s villains<\/a><\/p>\n

A lot of inconsistencies for the Cavs<\/p>\n

You have to give a lot of credit to the current Cavs team. They made a huge move at the trade deadline by acquiring James Harden<\/a> and then they carried in the second round when he started choking again.<\/p>\n

The Cavs also got inconsistent effort from their bigs \u2014 Evan Mobley<\/a> and Jarrett Allen<\/a>. Meanwhile, Donovan Mitchell<\/a> had another statistically sensational postseason, but there were games – like Saturday’s Game 3 when they needed him most \u2014 that he did not have the impact.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, the 41-year-old LeBron led the Lakers<\/a>, without Luka Doncic<\/a> and Austin Reaves<\/a>, to a 3-0 series lead against the Houston Rockets<\/a> in their first-round series. The Rockets won two straight, but LeBron closed it out in Game 6 with another huge performance. Sure, the OKC Thunder<\/a> swept them in the second round, but even at his age, Bron showed he has a lot left, and most of it the Cavs need.<\/p>\n

James himself has admitted that he hasn’t thought about next season yet. And who knows if he is willing to take a discount to return to the Lakers. But as Barkley argued to SI, the Cavs are the perfect fit, and James has a better chance of winning a 5th title in Cleveland than Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: “I’m an L.A. girl, and LeBron filled a huge void for us” – WNBA legend Lisa Leslie defends LeBron James’ Lakers legacy<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Basketball Network<\/a> on May 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News<\/a> section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite being down 0-2 to the New York Knicks heading to Saturday night’s Game 3, fans of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662290,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[11654,351,8174,13054,51299,5050,6418,27495,134065,25169,6306,3013,3031,3014,355,14358,99,157841,4144],"class_list":["post-662289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-austin-reaves","tag-charles-barkley","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-evan-mobley","tag-houston-rockets","tag-james-harden","tag-jarrett-allen","tag-kenny-smith","tag-knicks","tag-lakers","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-okc-thunder","tag-sports","tag-the-cavs","tag-travis-kelce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}