With less than a minute remaining and the Cavaliers trailing 113-11 against the Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, LeBron James chose to give Kyle Korver an open look at a 3-pointer rather than trying to tie the game himself. The decision has been a hot topic for debate over the past week, but no one turned up the heat over it quite as much as Rick Barry and Rob Parker.
On Saturday, Barry called into FOX Sports Radio to chat with Parker, a longtime sports media personality, and his co-host Mark Willard. Parker feels that LeBron should not have passed the ball to Korver in that situation. Barry, an NBA champion and Hall of Famer, strongly disagrees.
Barry’s call ended up being very brief, as he defended LeBron and called Parker a “loser” who doesn’t know basketball. Here’s a clip:
Rick Barry is officially my favorite old school player ever. Absolutely destroyed Rob Parker's dumb ass pic.twitter.com/aXSAxeSlVT
— Hoops Reference (@RTHoopsTalk) June 11, 2017
Barry later apologized for making things personal. While he may have more personal experience with decisions like the one James made to pass to Korver, it’s rarely a good look to blast members of the media for not knowing the game because they didn’t play it.
Parker, of course, is no stranger to controversy. He was fired from his job with ESPN years ago because of some idiotic remarks he made about Robert Griffin III.
