With his otherworldly skills and physical strength as an undersized power forward, Charles Barkley unsurprisingly left his mark on his past matchups. Among those NBA big men who had their fair share of memorable on-court encounters with Barkley was former Chicago Bulls center Scott Williams.
Williams was fortunate to be part of the Bulls team that won three consecutive NBA titles. For him, Barkley was probably his toughest assignment during that stretch. Williams is about four inches taller than Chuck, but admittedly, he couldn’t handle “The Round Mound of Rebound” all by himself.
“In the (1993) NBA Finals, I had opportunities where we would switch off and I’d get a chance to guard him a little,” Williams once said of Chuck. “But at 6-6, he was so powerful and played so big in the block, he would pretty much do whatever he wanted down there. When you get him down there in a one-on-one situation, you were just screaming for help as quick as you can. Get one of the guards down there. “Paxson, Armstrong, somebody get down here and scratch and claw at this guy with me!”
Scott admired Barkley’s mental toughness, too
Taking a quick trip down memory lane, Barkley had a bad fall in Game 2 of the ’93 NBA Finals. He ruptured a bursa sac in his right elbow, which resulted in discomfort all throughout the series.
To this day, Williams still vividly recalls how Sir Charles managed to play through the pain just to help the Phoenix Suns win. Having witnessed how Barkley set aside his personal challenges for the sake of his team, Williams respected Chuck even more as a competitor. He didn’t just admire the legendary forward for his physical attributes but also for his notable mental toughness.
“I remember he was banged up a little bit in the Finals,” Williams further recalled. “He had an elbow problem and still went out and grabbed 18 boards one game and gave the coach over 20 points, and I thought, ‘What a warrior.'”
Horace said the same thing about Chuck
Like Williams, Bulls’ starting power forward Horace Grant also remembers how prime Barkley gave them problems back in the day. In fact, Grant considers him the toughest opponent the Bulls ever had to face during those years.
As a player, Grant takes great pride in his toughness. However, he couldn’t help but be in awe of the resilience and competitive spirit that Barkley displayed during that intense NBA Finals series in ’93. Horace was impressed by how Chuck not only endured the pain of his elbow injury but even performed at such a high level every single game.
“As an individual, no question it was Charles Barkley,” Grant replied when asked to name the biggest threat in the Bulls’ first three-peat in a Q&A on NBA.com in 2020. “He didn’t want them to lose. The guy played with an injured elbow, draining the fluid and still going out there putting up 35 points a night.”
Williams and Grant were just two of the many former NBA players who are convinced that Barkley was a cut above the rest. For most of his past rivals, Chuck was strangely yet exceptionally different at the same time.