Charles Barkley Gives Bold Prediction On Suns-Nuggets Series

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night and the Phoenix Suns defeated the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night. 

Both teams won their respective first-round series 4-1 and they will now face one another in the Western Conference Semifinals with a trip to the Western Conference Finals on the line. 

The Nuggets were last in the Western Conference Finals in 2020 where they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Suns were last there in 2021, as they advanced to the NBA Finals.

With both teams advancing in the playoffs on Tuesday night, TNT's Charles Barkley previewed this series on Inside The NBA, giving his take on what will ultimately decide this series.

"I like the Nuggets," Barkley stated. "I think that [Jamal] Murray against [Devin] Booker is going to be must-see television, I think [Aaron] Gordon trying to guard KD [Kevin Durant] is going to be must-see television. Joker [Nikola Jokic] is going to be the difference and the depth of the Denver Nuggets. I think that, in my opinion, is going to be the difference, but those two one-on-one matchups are going to be fabulous. 

The league's back-to-back MVP and one of the three finalists for this year's award, Nikola Jokic has been impossible to stop all season long and is coming off a series against Minnesota in which he averaged 26.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists per game. 

In three games against the Suns and Deandre Ayton this season, Jokic has averaged 32.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game. 

Nikola Jokic is clearly the driving force in this series for the Nuggets and if he does not show up to play, Denver will not stand a chance against the high-powered offense of the Suns with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. 

"We don't even know how great this guy is," Barkley said in regards to Jokic. "I mean, he is an amazing player and I think this is the year they get to the conference finals again."

Charles Barkley picked the Denver Nuggets to advance to the NBA Finals before the playoffs even began and while he may be cheering for the Phoenix Suns, an organization he spent four All-Star seasons with during his career, Barkley does believe they will be outmatched by Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in this series. 

The Nuggets will host the Suns in Game 1 of their Western Conference Semifinals series on Saturday, April 29. The time for this game has not yet been determined.