Charles Barkley joins fans in mocking Cavaliers at every opportunity

Everyone was mocking the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night. Hall of Famer Charles Barkley was merely the loudest voice, not the only one.

Boy was he loud, though. As the most boisterous character on ESPN's "Inside the NBA" halftime show (produced by TNT, of course), Barkley often leads the way in some of the group's zany bits and running gags. When the Cavaliers came out flat and got steamrolled in an elimination game, with the New York Knicks up 19 at halftime, the jokes were bound to come.

They did not take long, of course. Barkley decided to put on his teacher's cap to open the halftime show, explaining to the kids at home what the word "quit" meant. Here is the ensuing video:

As you can see, Barkley did not merely crack a joke at the Cavaliers' expense. He backed up the painful barb with film! He showed, one increasingly painful clip at a time, how the Cavaliers just didn't show up to play at the level needed in the Eastern Conference Finals. They did not get back in transition, they lost cutters, they failed to rotate. It was a mental loss on top of everything else.

Barkley was spot-on even with the extra icing of humor. The Cavs had their backs against the wall, and instead of bucking up and fighting back, they closed their eyes and let the Knicks end it. They quit.

Everyone noticed, of course. National television, against the New York Knicks, everyone was tuned in and could have only one of two responses: utter despair if you were a Cleveland fan, or giggling mockery if you were anyone else.

Even NFL media was piling on:

At least Taylor Swift showed up to Game 3, because she was the only star who did for Cleveland in this series. James Harden was entirely MIA yet again:

While James Harden, Donovan Mitchell and company were on the court being run all over by the Knicks, the harshest ridicule was reserved for head coach Kenny Atkinson. His postgame comments after Game 1 calling James Harden "one of their best defenders" was obviously mocked, but nothing could approach the vitriol directed his way after his comments on Sunday.

Atkinson, referring to shot quality metrics that assign an expected score based on the location, shooter and defender for each shot, told the media that the Cavaliers were "up 2-1" in the series despite actually losing all three. Social media did not hold back in mocking him as the Game 4 beatdown went down.

Even former Cavaliers players broke from solidarity and ripped this team a new one. Ron Harper won five titles during his career, granting him some standing as a former player who knows what it takes in the playoffs. What he saw on Monday night was not it:

Channing Frye chimed in before Barkley's comments:

The Cavaliers are going home covered in bitterness and regret, as the New York Knicks celebrate their way into the NBA Finals. Down 3-0 in the series, they were always going to lose (no team has ever come back from such a deficit in NBA history) but they should have fought.

Instead, they were DOA. Here is one final lasting image:

Ouch.

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