May 07, 2015
For all basketball fans, April and May mean that you're going to be watching a lot of "Inside the NBA" in between and after playoff games. Whatever you think of the show, there's no debating that Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Shaquille O'Neal, and Ernie Johnson arguing about hoops and cracking jokes is an institution.
"Inside" had a pretty memorable night on Wednesday. First, let's start with a bit of background: During halftime of every game, one of Smith's main duties is to break down film on a gigantic video board that is situated maybe 40 feet behind the crew's main desk. In what has become a ritual of sorts, O'Neal often quickly gets up out of his chair and races Smith to the video board. He tried to do that at halftime of the Los Angles Clippers-Houston Rockets game last night, and well, just watch what happened:
Considering how much Shaq tries that maneuver, it's kind of surprising he hasn't wiped out like that before. Part of the reason the show is so beloved is that the entire panel is at its most comfortable when they're improvising. In this particular case, Smith completely bagged breaking down game film. The only replays worth watching were of O'Neal hitting the deck. Here's the fall in Vine form, which will serve as the starting point for literally thousands of memes:
When you also factor in the lip sync contest that the entire panel participated in after the game ended, you have a pretty darn entertaining night of television from four guys.
