Original subtitles

♪♪

-What can I get for you?

You want a little table for your coffee?

-Yeah, a little table would be great.

I got a little visual aid here.

-I think... -What's up, y'all?

-..."Inside the NBA" has been able to have a 30-year run...

-Tell us a little bit about this guy?

-...because the authenticity

of everyone who was on it, starting from Ernie...

-I mean, is this the first year? This might be.

-...to Kenny and Chuck...

-Don't mess this up!

-...and Shaq. -Watch it, young man. Watch it.

-...everybody brings their own style to the table.

You can be you. He can be him.

They can be them, and it all comes together.

And you have a magical show, like what you guys have.

-I've got exceptional hair.

-The way people looked at certain television shows

that had a great cast,

that's how I look at "Inside the NBA."

I'm like, man, this cast -- it just worked out,

like the way when I used to watch "Good Times"...

-Dy-no-mite!

-...or "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."

-The ultimate one is "The Odd Couple."

These shows have influenced people who are on TV now.

-I always go back to "Seinfeld" --

wasn't the critics' choice.

-Hey. -Hey.

-They stayed with it,

became maybe the most successful sitcom of all time.

-This documentary is a celebration

of the 30th season of "Inside."

-Seems longer. Ah, sorry. Go ahead.

-Oh, this guy.

Man, you're a lucky dude, brother.

-You want to hear from people that you, number one, respect,

number two, love, and number three,

are highly entertained by.

-You can do it. Usually it's just like that.

-I mean, "SNL" is a good example of that.

I mean, the folks -- you know, it's pop culture,

so folks feel like they're connected to it.

-That's a nice picture. Thank you.

-Maybe it started as a show based just around basketball.

-Kenny, take one.

-But it has become something bigger than just sports.

-I watch you guys all the time.

-[ Laughs ]

-[ Laughs ] Slam it!

-They got the thing you can't buy...

-Ernie, take two. -Bang!

Now this is a real show.

-...and that's chemistry.

-It's Ernie Johnson in our Atlanta studio,

"Inside the NBA."

-On TNT. -On TNT.

-Do it and you'll feel like that.

-[Indistinct] everybody.

-Charles Barkley!

-[ Laughs ] -He's under 300!

-Shaquille O'Neal!

Can you dig it?!

-[ Laughs ] -I'm not making a face, though.

-I'm not in control! -[ Laughing ] Okay.

-Oh, man! Oh! -[ Laughs ]

♪♪

-When I took that phone call back in 1989 and said,

"Yeah, I'd love to come work with you,"

you never know

how long that's gonna mean.

Now I'm sitting here looking at 30 years

And it's been remarkable that we've had that kind of longevity

'cause you just don't see that in our business,

'cause you've always got, you know, the TV executives

who always have a better idea, you know, and that's because,

hey, the ratings weren't what they should be,

so now we need to try another group,

or, "I've got a brilliant idea.

I think these four people would really mesh."

And you can't predict chemistry,

and you can't predict what's gonna work.

It just sometimes -- it just happens.

And that's what happened with us.

-Ernie and I -- I think we were the first to kind of say,

"Let your personality show.

You don't have to change anything about yourself.

You can do what you want to do.

You can talk about what you want to talk about."

And you could never get this mix anywhere else.

-One of the very first shows we ever did,

I can recall Charles asking Kenny --

you know, he's asked him something like,

"So what are you gonna say about"...

whatever team we were gonna be talking about.

And Kenny just looked at him and said, "You'll find out."

-That's what we should show off [indistinct]

'cause it's like everyday work, we're waiting on Kenny.

-And that really set the tone for the way the show would go.

It was gonna be unscripted. It was gonna be unrehearsed.

-Can you hand me some flapjacks, my brother?

-Yes, sir. -Ooh, that's hot, brother.

-That's 'cause they're hot cakes.

[ Laughter ]

-And it was no place to be if you had a thin skin

because there were gonna be shots fired,

and nobody was immune to it.

-I hate people like you, Charles.

-Why's that? -Cut your pancakes up first.

-You gotta cut your pancakes up first.

-No, you don't. You cut them while you go.

-No, you don't. -I'm just gonna have some...

-Do you cut up your steak before you eat it?

-Yeah. -No, you don't.

-Yes, I do. -You cut it as you go.

-No, I don't.

-I don't know what Kenny's gonna say.

I don't know what Chuck's gonna say.

Don't know what Shaq's gonna say,

'cause that's the way we do our show.

-Kenny, come on, man. -I'm ready.

-You're not ready.

-It's that improvisational creativity.

You know, I've heard it described as kind of, you know,

likened to jazz, the times where these guys just kind of play.

Somebody has a beat going,

and the rest of the guys just play to that beat

because they're just kind of feeling it, they're doing it.

-"Inside the NBA" is the benchmark of any sports show,

maybe even any talk show.

They're funny. They're thoughtful.

They know the game. The players respect them.

-It's so silly and stupid.

We get paid to watch basketball.

You can't get a better job

as a ex-basketball player than that,

plain and simple.

But, you know, the hardest part for us three

is criticizing players.

That's the hardest part of this job.

So remember the night Kobe wouldn't shoot?

-Yeah. -Yeah.

-We had that game. -Yeah.

-So I went off on him. I said, you know,

"Kobe really made me mad tonight, pissed me off.

He wouldn't shoot the ball."

-You called him selfish, didn't you?

-That was selfish. -It was very selfish.

-Yeah. -Because normally if they had

to get down by 20 points, he would try to take over.

The truth of the matter -- he was very selfish.

I get back to my hotel room.

Kobe starts texting me,

calling me every M.F. in the book.

This goes on for like 45 minutes to an hour,

and it's like 3:30 in the morning.

-The fact that the players' feelings get hurt

when their uncles say something

shows that what they say really matters.

-Let's talk about your relationship

with Charles Barkley, shall we?

And maybe we can do this now

and then we can be done with it and we can just have

a jolly old time the rest of the night.

-I criticized Kobe in game seven.

He didn't like it. He let me know it.

But I wanted to get his side, his point of view.

-The important part is that, you know, we go out there

and we play the game, we play the game to win.

And obviously we had a strategy that worked very well

for us in three games.

We tried to keep the strategy going in game seven

and the other games as well.

Didn't work out for us,

But we're out there trying to win.

So, you know, to label me as being selfish

was something that I took up with Charles.

-You don't want to have something snowballing

or lingering or left unsaid.

And I thought that was really a good way to do that...

-Yeah. -...that was kind of,

"Look, you're in here. You've talked it out.

We're all good." -It's never personal.

-Never. -Never.

-It's always interesting when, you know,

you see Hall of Famers up there speaking on your game.

When it's negative, you're like,

"Man, I wish he didn't say that about me."

And when it's positive, you feel, like,

some sense of validation.

-And it's good!

-I get criticized a lot from those guys, besides E.J.

E.J. kind of, you know -- E.J.'s good, but --

Kenny, too -- but Shaq and Charles,

I appreciate it, to be honest, because they're Hall of Famers.

-They say good things.

They may say things that I don't like.

You got to take the crookeds with the straights.

It's all truthful, though. I will tell you that.

-They sit up there and they shoot their shit,

they say what they say,

and you either respect it or not.

And they don't hold back, especially Chuck.

They don't hold back, but you respect it

because they actually putting in the work.

A lot of people just think they're just getting up there

and just riffing and things of that nature,

but they're putting in the work.

-And he had 22 points, right?

So when Charles and I make comments like,

"He's not playing well,"

people just think it's hate.

It's not that it's hate.

It's that we see greatness in him.

22 is okay, but it ain't great.

-When we criticize these guys,

they think we're the "Get off my lawn" old guys.

-Yeah. I've always made a symbol for big guys, right, Kenny?

Seven points quarter. -Yeah.

-If you're a big guy and you dominate,

you should average 28, 10, 28, 15.

-A lot of players probably won't admit it,

but they listen to every single word they say.

-I do think they're right.

I think I need to, you know, be more aggressive,

and I gotta make a change.

-Joel Embiid 38 points tonight

in Philadelphia's win in Boston.

-Listen, we don't expect you to get 38 points every night,

but we need you to be aggressive

because when you're a great player --

and you are a great player --

you have to set the tone for your team every single night.

-You know, I'm definitely gonna use that

and try to get better every single night

and bring it every single night. Thank you.

-I'm glad he responded like that.

I'm just giving you answers to the test.

If you want the answers to the test

so you can become the valedictorian, cool.

If not, no problem with me.

-In addition to talking hoop,

we do like to have a good time.

-When I meet people, they just says,

"Man, you guys make us laugh.

Y'all make us enjoy watching basketball."

And that's a great reward.

-One of the greatest blessings in my life

is to have a job where, when I go into work,

I know I'm gonna laugh before the day's over.

That's a good thing.

[ Rapping ] ♪ My name's Ernie Johnson but they call me E.J. ♪

♪ I host a little show called "Inside the NBA" ♪

[ Cheering ] -♪ I'm ready to go ♪

♪ I got to go ♪

♪ I'm gonna tell you all about it ♪

♪ Watch me now ♪

-Put the gun down. [ Laughter ]

-Get him, Kenny. Oh!

-♪ I'm gonna show you all about it ♪

-There you go. -♪ Watch me now ♪

♪ I'm ready to go ♪ -Ah!

-He kissed it! Yes!

-Y'all shut up, man.

-[ Laughs ] Right?

-Oh! -♪ I'm ready to go ♪

-Oh! -Concerning!

[ Laughter ]

[ Cheering ]

[ Indistinct talking ]

-Oh! Doggone.

-Thought it was gonna be harmless. Oh!

[ Dinging and pounding ]

-Hey, man, what did I tell y'all about that?

-If all we were concerned with was basketball games

and basketball scores and basketball highlights

and points in the paint,

it would be pretty empty.

[ Rapping ] ♪ I have to say, yeah ♪

♪ I can't believe they put me up to this ♪

-Oh! -Oh!

-He dropped the mic on y'all! -Oh!

-And the great thing is,

we're allowed to do that.

-When you're on a TV show, it's not about the actors.

-You guys have my good side? [ Laughs ]

-Hello. -How about that?

-Alright, here we go. -It's about the DP.

-I'm one of the camera guys.

-I am the director. -It's about the EP.

-Lenny Daniels. -My name is Drew Watkins.

-Craig Barry. -It's about the guy

that's running sound.

It's about the guy that's working lights.

-Oh, my role. -I am the scenic stagehand.

-Production coordinator. -Social media producer.

-Associate director. -'Cause they make you look good.

They make your job easy.

-If you look at all the people we work with,

I just think they don't get enough credit.

-I started working on "Inside the NBA"...

-1997. -1996.

-1995. -1985.

-Almost 20 years now. -Since the '90s.

-What was Turner Sports? It was a family.

-I started working at Turner Sports in 1981,

-I started here in 1989.

-Does that work? -Back in the day...

-We were new. We were innovative.

We were hungry. We were aggressive.

-The scramble of everything it took

just to put the show on the air?

Adrenaline was flowing.

People were [laughs] running all over the place.

Tapes were flying.

I mean, it was like a scene out of "Broadcast News."

-There was always this sense, and we all felt

like we had to be the best

'cause we were the underdogs in the business.

-I'm Pat Summerall here with my colleague John Madden, as usual.

-Hello, everybody. I'm Bob Costas.

-Now, if that doesn't whet your appetite,

you're watching the wrong channel.

-We weren't ABC, NBC, you know, CBS, ESPN.

We were TNT. We had to prove ourselves.

We went out every night to prove who we were.

-And the sense of accomplishment

after you finished the show

was like, "Holy shit.

I can't believe we just pulled that off."

-And that sort of underdog, maverick spirit

that makes the show unique

can be traced all the way back to the network's founder,

Ted Turner.

-Did a little research on the satellite

and found out we could reach the whole nation.

So I decided to see if we couldn't do it.

-How come no one else had thought of that?

-Well, I don't know, you know?

How come nobody else thought the world was round

till Columbus came around?

-Listen, a lot of people use the word visionary.

-Ted truly was a visionary.

-I dedicate the news channel for America.

-He launched the first-ever 24-hour news network.

-We sign on on June 1.

And barring satellite problems in the future,

we won't be signing off until the world ends.

[ Laughter ]

-Ted also knew that sports was gonna drive distribution,

and sports was gonna drive viewership.

-Come see the Big League team and Little League spirit.

And, hey, we're in Atlanta.

-His spirit was to grow, to build,

so he bought Braves...

-Oh, my goodness! -...and the Hawks.

-It's showtime! Whoa!

-Play the play!

-He didn't even really understand

what sports programing was,

but he understood having the Braves baseball

and the Hawks games on TBS was 3 1/2 hours of programming

they didn't have to fill with other programming.

-But local sports wasn't enough.

Ted's TBS network would become the exclusive cable partner

for the entire NBA

and eventually move to its current home, TNT.

-Why a fourth network?

-You know, in business,

you're supposed to keep expanding,

and we needed another network to keep expanding.

-Thank you very much. -Yep.

-Only time I was mad about being at Turner --

and I told Ernie this story and he corrected me.

I said, "Ernie, I met Ted Turner the other day,

and he didn't even know who I was."

I said, "Mr. Turner, nice to meet you.

"And you are?" I said, "Oh, my name's Shaquille O'Neal

and I work with the..."

"He's a big ol' son of a bitch.

You should just join the Army."

[ Laughter ] [ Speaks indistinctly ]

Ted Turner don't know that I work for him, and...

-No, first of all, he don't know that you're Shaquille O'Neal.

-Yeah! -That's just -- forget that.

-Dude lives in Montana on the farm, Shaq.

-I came back and said, "Ernie, Ted didn't know who I was."

He said, "Shaq, Ted -- Ted ain't owned this thing

in about 20 years." I was like,

"So Ted Turner don't own this?"

[ Laughter ]

-He said, "You're a big dude. You should just the Army"?

-Yes, he said that.

-"Inside the NBA" with your host, Fred Hickman.

-When you're ready. -Okay.

My name is Fred Hickman,

and I was the original host back in 1989.

I am the OG.

-And so here we are, and what a thrill it is.

Just think of it -- me making history,

hosting the earliest morning live NBA show

in the annals of television.

The mere concept makes me a little bit misty.

-So "Inside the NBA" was a post-game show produced

for all of our NBA coverage.

It was a really cool show 'cause it was a combination

of Turner Sports and CNN Sports.

-A little drumroll, please. -I think it's appropriate.

It was great. It was just another show.

And, you know, I love basketball, so I did it,

and then I got to work with some really great people.

-It wasn't as fancy.

It was pretty basic television back then.

-We start our coverage tonight in Boston Garden,

and really a tough place for the Charlotte Hornets to play.

-We had a little merry-go-round of hosts.

-Hello, I'm Craig Sager. -Hey, I'm Hannah Storm.

-I'm Vince Cellini. -I'm Tim Brando.

-Welcome to "Inside the NBA."

-Back in the day, that's kind of how sports television was done,

especially studio shows.

You had a single anchor or a pair of anchors,

and they would basically give you the sports news...

-These guys could be the western surprise of the year.

-...and information... -It's been five months

since the Pistons were crowned champions of the world.

-...and highlights. -Charles Barkley -- and I mean,

this is a He-Man move to the hole right there.

-As you go through the merry-go-round of hosts,

the end game is to find the host that makes the most sense,

to find the host that fits the show.

And Ernie was that guy.

-So Ernie Johnson was a local newscaster

on Channel 2, WSB, here in Atlanta.

He had the father history with the Braves

and was just an Atlanta guy.

-What does my father think?

Ask him right here. What do you think?

You've seen them all, years and years.

-Well, I'll tell you, there's more excitement right now

than perhaps in 1969 when we won it.

-I think you're a better sportscaster than your dad.

-I don't know about that. This is live TV, folks.

When people say, "follow in my dad's footsteps,"

the only way that that would have applied

is if I had been able to play Major League Baseball.

I took that dream as far as my freshman year

at the University of Georgia,

where I -- I walked on as a freshman

and was told to walk off as a sophomore.

[ Announcer shouting indistinctly ]

Even though he was an announcer for the Braves,

I was not that interested in it.

It was a fun way to spend the weekends

when you're not in school,

and you tag along with your dad to the ballpark

and watch him do his job.

So when I did try it, that's when I discovered

that getting into the games for free and covering sports --

that's a pretty good way to make a living, so it stuck.

Good afternoon. Whatever was ailing the Braves

as they dropped seven on a nine to the Dodgers, Giants, and...

Thee folks at TBS and TNT called me one day

and asked if I wanted to come and work for them.

And I jumped on it.

-Well, I thought, this guy's a chip off the old block.

He reminded me so much of his father

in that he was fair, and he was engaging.

I always thought that he was gonna be great

from the first time I saw him out there,

'cause, look, he learned from the best.

-As always, I'm Fred Hickman here,

hoping for God to bless and for all your jumpers

to hit nothing but the bottom of the net.

So long for now.

-It was an interesting transition.

When I was hired by Turner,

the first words out of their mouth were not,

"Hey, NBA on TNT or on TBS."

It was, "U.S. Olympic Gold." This was the plan.

"Okay, you're gonna be going to Seattle.

You're gonna be the host of Ted Turner's Goodwill Games.

And then there was a shake-up and suddenly I was not gonna

be the [laughs] host of the Goodwill Games anymore.

-And now we're gonna learn a little more

about judo.

-[Indistinct] know what their sport is all about.

They also know that as they take the mat here

at Seattle University,

they're the favorites to win their weight classes.

That first year that I was at Turner 8

in the '89-'90 season,

Craig Sager was hosting at that time.

-Hi, I'm Craig Sager.

It was T.S. Eliot who said,

-In the life of one man, never the same time returns."

We live in a changing world.

And as you can see from our new appearance

and our move to TNT, we're making changes as I speak.

-I actually did some sideline during the playoffs that year.

-For that story, let's go to Ernie Johnson

at the Palace. Ernie?

-Thank you very much, Craig Sager.

What a great New York Knicks team that was in '69-'70

that beat the Lakers in seven games.

And then for the '90-'91 season, they said,

"Okay, we're making a change here.

Sags is going on the road. He's gonna be a reporter.

And you're gonna be in the chair hosting the "NBA on TNT."

Ernie Johnson in our Atlanta studio.

And I've been in that chair ever since.

-So you started by yourself? -Yeah, sometimes.

-You know what I remember about your show as a youngster?

You had a nice "Star Trek"-looking studio,

and I thought that was -- -A lot of lights and buttons

that really didn't do anything. -Yeah, I thought that was --

I thought that was real futuristic.

I was like, "Damn, look at the technology

on that studio set."

-The Bulls are halfway through

their regular season schedule now,

on pace to win 72 games,

which would, of course, be an NBA record.

They are scary.

-How has that been crazy for you?

To go from -- we see you started out as one, two.

Now you got four. It's got to change.

-It was, but, I mean, it was so highlight-driven,

and it was all just, "Give me the shot sheets.

Let's take a look at it. Let's do this."

And when I did the show by myself,

it was -- it wasn't as good.

-Can I do this? -Sure.

-I want to do this. -Tilt it down a little bit.

-Like that? -Yep. That's perfect.

-Ah, how was that?

-Pretty good. -Ah, that's sweet.

Hi, I'm Tim Kiley,

a.k.a. Charles Barkley's fat, obnoxious boss.

I produce "Inside the NBA."

I started here in August of 1995.

You know, let me tell you about producing.

-Tim Kiley and I work together at ESPN,

and I was his production assistant

on the 2:00 a.m. "SportsCenter."

That show was a little bit looser,

but never quite as loose as T.K. would have wanted

because he just wants to rock 'n' roll.

-Kiley had the same attitude every show.

He wanted you to leave an impact that night on the show.

Like, he wanted to hit you,

or he wanted you to hit somebody.

Not literally, but that figurative,

"Let's go out there and do it. Let's have some fun."

-He wanted it to be a free-flowing discussion,

as opposed to where we came from at ESPN,

where, you know, everybody looked right at the camera.

They were pretending to talk to somebody in a camera.

There's nobody there.

So you're better off talking to the person next to you.

-Your thoughts on the Spurs?

And in a mini slump for the guys right now.

-Well, first of all, this is a great guy team.

They win the Mr. Congeniality award, but --

-Is that good? -I think that's a good thing.

I like that. -Do you?

-It's changed the scope of sports TV

and talk shows.

That style, you see every place now.

And that was really started first at Turner.

-I remember the first time Tim Kiley had me

on the set for "Inside the NBA."

He said, "If you look in the camera,

I'm gonna break your arm."

[ Laughing ] He said...

-I just knew that if we got smart guys and let them go

and took away all the conventions

that make people uncomfortable, like looking at a camera,

you know, worried about time, being told what to say --

that, to me, is insane.

And Ernie was -- like me, was trained local TV,

scripted, a lot of writing.

And, you know, most people take great pride in their writing.

-It's Ernie Johnson here with Cheryl Miller,

ready to take you inside the NBA.

In the first three games of his comeback at the Forum,

Magic Johnson was a mile high. Tonight...

-You want the director and the producer

to be able to follow along

with your lead-in and then your highlight

and know what was coming up and that kind of thing.

So, you know, you'd hand out a script to everybody.

When Tim Kiley, who came to us from ESPN,

came aboard, that began to change.

-I knew a guy off-camera who had a wicked sense of humor,

very dry, very funny.

-Good evening, everybody. I'm Ernie Johnson.

Well, that's...well...

I didn't really like where that TNT logo was headed,

tell you that.

-But it never came out on the air because

when you're reading prompter, you're reading prompter.

You're not talking. You're announcing.

And you're not who you are.

-Well, we gave you extra time.

We saved the highlights for segment two.

And, by golly, here they come.

-I refer to teleprompter as, you know, television crack.

So one night I turned prompter off,

and I got a coffee cup thrown in my direction.

[ Laughs ]

-[ Laughs ] Yeah, I can talk about that.

There was just one post-game show in particular.

And, you know, I can't remember all the details of it.

I just remember I was pretty -- you know, I sucked.

A couple of plays to show you from later in that game...

It was just bad.

...as Clyde Drexler takes it to the hole.

Donnell Marshall of Golden State,

the well-traveled Donnell Marshall,

gonna get a hold of this thing.

I'm kind of leading you along, just building the suspense.

Tim and I had a conversation after the show.

And he's like, "Hey, don't -- shake it off.

You know, it's okay," and I was like,

"Well, I don't really like this and I don't like this.

And you could have done this."

And we were both getting a little more agitated.

-[ Laughs ] No, actually, it was -- the true story is,

Ernie stormed into the bathroom,

and I wasn't sure whether to follow him or not.

-And he followed me into the bathroom,

[laughs] and I wound up, at the crux of this argument,

throwing my coffee cup.

-He actually threw the cup past me at a wall.

-And it shattered all over the place.

And I was hot.

-And some poor guy was in there taking a leak,

and he jumped out of the john

and ran out [laughs] like a demon, so...

-And I just kind of said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

And I walked into my office,

and I gathered up my stuff and I split.

-He was very angry, but he knew

that it had worked.

You know, we made fun of it 'cause the next day

I brought him a coffee cup that said, "Going postal."

-And I still have that.

Because of my behavior the previous night,

the want ads for a postal worker.

[ Laughs ] And I remember all I did --

I opened that thing and I put it down,

and I just started howling.

And that's why I kept the mug.

I mean, that taught me a huge lesson,

and he taught me a lot about just,

"Hey, look, you're looking at basketball games.

Enjoy it, have fun."

-That was kind of the birth of our relationship.

It was a rough birth [laughs] but it...

I think it's one of the things

that really helped him stand out as an anchor.

-And I was just like, from that point, "I'm in.

Whatever this guy wants to do, I'm in."

-But it really wasn't until the arrival of Kenny

that things started to take off.

-Was I part of the decision making on Kenny Smith?

Look, I've never been part of the decision making

in this company, really, I don't think [laughs] ever,

but I know T.K. and I both knew

from these times when Kenny, late in his career,

would come by and be an analyst for a night or two.

We welcome you to Atlanta and the Nike halftime report.

I'm Ernie Johnson.

Our guest all week long is Kenny Smith.

Tim Kiley and I would look at each other, and say,

"Man, this guy is just so natural."

I said, "When he's done -- when his playing days are done,

he has to be part of this show."

What do you do now if Alonzo can't go for a while?

-You try to retract that trade and bring Ike Austin back.

-Yeah. I mean, the guy gets it.

He was just a natural.

-Kenny was a very good point guard.

And I think we saw when he got to the finals

that he was willing to take and make big shots.

-Steps ahead of the field!

-You have to be arrogant to play in the NBA

'cause you're playing against killers, man.

You're playing against the best.

Michael Jordan wants to destroy you.

Isaiah Thomas wants to destroy you.

Larry Bird wanted to destroy you.

Magic wanted to destroy you.

And you have to have a certain makeup

to be able to compete against guys that good.

And Kenny had that makeup.

-These are the kind of threes he has gotten

all year long for this team.

-The Houston Rockets are NBA Champions!

-Yeah, he was at the end of his career,

and we used to bring guests in for two or three days,

and we would coach them up and try to get them to relax.

But most guys were worried about their career and still playing.

-But I don't think they're gonna do it without Jason.

-No, you don't think? It's not gonna happen? Well...

-I think Kenny knew he was on his last legs,

and this was something he was thinking about.

-Tim Kiley was like, "Hey, if you want to

do this for real, you could actually do it."

And so I was still getting calls from NBA teams.

"Hey, are you really gonna want to play one more?

You want to back up? You want to be in there coaching?

You want to be anything at this time?"

I was weighing heavily to do that.

And Craig Sag and I shared an office space.

And so his cubicle was right next to mine,

and he overheard a conversation

I was having with Gregg Popovich.

And he's like, "You're thinking about going back and playing?"

I was like, "Yeah, you know,

I still got a little left in the tank.

He's like, "Don't you know you're good at this?

Like, this could be your career."

And I stopped, and at that point,

I had never thought about it,

and then I started asking him questions

about a career in broadcasting.

-So we sat down one night, and I told them,

"Tell me about your NBA moment."

Most people would say, "Well, my rookie year,

my first game," that kind of a thing, you know.

Kenny said, "Oh, no, no, no." Typical Kenny.

"Wasn't until, like, I traded to the Rockets."

Well, he'd played like four years in Sacramento.

But he said to me, "I played in bigger crowds in high school

than I did in Sacramento.

So I really didn't feel like I was in the NBA

until I played for the Rockets and we were in the playoffs."

And he said, "We were playing the Lakers in the Forum.

We had just scored to go up one,

and the Lakers were coming down for one final shot."

And he said...

-Magic Johnson's bringing the ball up court,

and everyone just rises at the same time.

-And as Kenny told me the story, I had, like,

hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I said,

"Kenny, you're telling that story on television tonight."

And he did. -And then I look around,

and I go, "Yeah, this is playoff basketball."

-You know, what I tried to preach to those guys was,

I need to know what it smelled like.

I need to know what it tasted like.

You know, what was it like in the locker room?

And when he told that story about Magic Johnson

walking up the court, I mean,

that was a pretty good picture of what it must have felt like.

-And that's so rare because there were guys

that you thought,

"Oh, because of his personality on the floor

and I've heard him interviewed, oh, this guy will be great."

And then the red light goes on and they freeze up.

-It's just dirty back here, Ernie.

It's just dirty. -But not Kenny.

Kenny was like, "Hey, let's do the show. Let's go."

My road dog, as they say.

-Arf! The road dog! -It's been my pleasure.

And I could ask him anything, and he had an answer for it.

Isn't there a little danger there, though,

given his personality?

Do you mess with the chemistry a little bit?

-One thing that the Lakers don't lack is confidence.

They have a great deal of confidence, and these guys --

they don't care about Dennis Rodman.

Kobe thinks he's a bigger star than Dennis Rodman,

so it doesn't matter if he comes to this team.

-We're gonna have all the highlights

in the next 30 minutes.

He really had a gift

and was really natural at just being on TV.

-You want to win this game, Miami?

Put the ball in the basket.

Those were fun years, honestly,

because we were kind of breaking through the ceiling of things

that most people weren't doing on television.

-Next Friday at 7:00...

-On TNT. -...on TNT.

[ Laughter ]

We just started breaking the barriers.

And I think that attracted Charles 'cause he saw

that we were a little bit different than everyone else.

But that's the crossover in nutshell.

-Yeah, and if you were really playing me,

I would have had the ball first and you wouldn't have seen it.

When we come back...

-And so once Kenny came, we started to see

the possibilities of what we could do.

And then, obviously, Charles came and it went nuclear.

♪♪

-I am not a role model.

-Oh, this will be fun.

-I'm not paid to be a role model.

-You're gonna bring on the most quotable guy

in the history of the game?

-[ Grunting ]

I'm paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court.

-Every writer and every guy with a microphone

during Charles' playing days knew

that if you needed a quote, you went to Charles,

and it didn't just have to be about basketball.

-Parents should be role models.

-And now he was gonna be with us.

And so, yeah, I was pumped.

Charles has always done it his way.

And that was the story again tonight at Compaq Center

as he returned and then bid farewell.

-Norris going to the basket, lays it up, misses.

-Charles! Charles!

-For the rebound, it's Charles Barkley!

[ Shouting indistinctly ]

Charles Barkley gets a bucket in his final game!

-The end of another chapter for Charles Barkley.

His next chapter will be written here at Turner Broadcasting,

TNT and TBS.

He'll join us full-time next year.

How close were you to NBC? Were we in the picture?

-I'd already signed with NBC.

-You had already signed? -Yeah, verbally.

-[ Laughs ] How do you sign verbally?

-You had a verbal agreement. -We had a verbal agreement.

-How do you sign verbally? -No, no, no.

-I get it. -You put a pen in your mouth.

-Well, you guys are -- you guys had agreed,

but you just hadn't signed. -Yeah, agreed. Okay, gotcha.

Well, when he first came to Turner,

I thought it was gonna be very interesting.

I wasn't sure.

I thought Ernie and I had something going

that was making people take interest.

But after the first hour...

-You're a rookie. You'll go last.

-...I tapped Ernie under the desk and I said,

"Oh, this is gonna be special."

-Charles Barkley is here. Welcome aboard.

-Thank you. Glad to be here.

-And everyone really started to notice what we were doing.

I just felt he put gasoline on the fire

that Ernie and I was starting.

I was excited.

-And I think with Charles, that was one of the most

impressive things about him early on.

You could have fun with this guy...

-♪ Y-M-C-A ♪

-...who was one of the 50 greatest players of all time.

-I'm a talented young man.

-What are you stopping for?

And he could laugh at himself.

What do you think he weighs now, Kenny?

Here's Chuck, and in those early days...

-I'm gonna be gentle. -...he's a pretty hefty.

-I'd say 2... -Oh, no.

-...85. -Well, you can forget that.

-And it's like, "Man, how much does this guy weigh?"

-Damn! -Went with 290.

-290? -3...

-Man this scale ain't right!

Kenny, get on there. That can't be right.

-And we asked him about it, and then he would say,

"Look, I'm gonna get down to my plan weight."

-Kenny, get off the scale!

-337.5.

And here's this future Hall of Famer

who's got this wonderful soul

and this innate ability to laugh at others and at himself,

who says, "Yeah, you can weigh me."

-January the 31st. -Of 2000 and...?

-2. -2.

-I'm gonna weigh with nothing but my drawers on.

-On his show! -On this show.

-So there it is. -That's gonna be you?

-Oh, yeah, baby! -Oh, that's not even...

-Oh, yeah! -Let's go.

-Well... -The walk with the entourage.

[ Laughing ] Here we go.

[ Drumroll ]

-He's under 300! -Wow! Wow!

He's under 300!

-Charles Barkley, you made it!

Wow! How cool is it that he's in on doing this stuff?

Very nice.

-Hey! -There you go.

-There it is, there it is. -Ladies and gentlemen...

And that led to, "Hey, you need to work out

more on the Chuck Cycle 5000,

which is a stationary bike

with a Twinkie hanging from the front.

...to make you really go fast.

-Yeah! -Honk the horn!

Honk the horn, Chuck! Honk the horn.

[ Horn squeaks ]

[ Laughter ]

-I like this!

-Oh! -I like this, y'all.

-It was the first time I thought,

"Oh, this can be more than a basketball show."

-If you can't make fun of yourself

and if you can't just laugh and have a good time with it,

fans are gonna be turned off immediately.

-The fact that we can make fun of him and he takes it

and he's just such a good sport,

and that's one of the things that I love so much about him.

-I think if you start taking yourself too serious,

you need to take a step back and like,

"Yeah, man, you really just dribble a basketball."

I got two words for you --

Steve Nash and Chris Paul, must-see TV.

-That's more than two words.

-You didn't said, "Two words." You said, "Quick to the point."

-You said, "I got two words.

"Steve Nash and Chris Paul, must-see TV."

-What "Inside the NBA" did was that it caused everybody else

to try and change up and loosen up.

-34 drawers! -No, no. Turn it around, man.

-"CB"! -You got the "CB."

Here's the last part of your gift.

Here's a shoehorn to get in those bad boys.

[ Laughter ]

-I was at ESPN.

We had Stephen A. Smith, myself, and for the first time

we started having more fun on our show.

We would do segments about crazy things like cooking

or, you know, who's cooking up

the best chemistry in the Eastern Conference?

-There you go. -Oh, man. This is good.

-This was all stuff that started with "Inside."

-I don't eat vegetables.

The only vegetable I felt like I could stomach is green beans.

-We grew quickly. We had the right chemistry.

We had the right people behind the scenes.

Obviously, we got the right people in front of the camera

at the right time.

-With a man who needs no introduction.

He provides it himself.

[ Laughter ]

-I think as a studio producer,

it was one of those experiences where you never quite knew

what was gonna happen next.

-No, no, no! [ Laughter ]

-When you're in the moment, I don't think you realize

just how cool it was that this was kind of the genesis

of what you see now.

-Because of the new contract with Alex Rodriguez,

he wants to make a comeback, Charles, now, not in basketball.

Just take a look.

He wants to come back in baseball.

And Ernie has fed into this.

-Kenny, you think he's got a shot?

-Come on, Kenny. -He's got a shot.

Is there a doctor in the house? A shot?

What do you mean, a shot? He shot at nothing.

Come back over here, man.

-Ladies and gentlemen... -Forget about it.

-...pleasure to introduce Clueless Joe Jackson.

-Charles came in and created chemistry for all three of them.

-Zero plus zero is zero. Did you know that?

-I did. -So you're saying

the Washington Wizards right now are a zero?

-Yep. -Chicago Bulls are zero?

-Okay. -And it still equals zero.

-Thank you. -I'm following you.

-That leads to my favorite stat of the --

-That's Ebonics between the brothers.

[ Laughter ]

-And then that's when we really knew

that there was something special going on.

-Are you kidding me?!

-The home of champions.

-That's ballin', Ernie.

-It just kind of took on a bigger-than-life feeling.

-Royalty style! Royalty style, baby!

-That All-Star weekend in Las Vegas in '07,

you had one of these hyped-up heavyweight fights,

which was going to feature an actual heavyweight in Charles,

but was also going to feature

the veteran official Dick Bavetta.

We need to talk about

this race that's gonna happen tonight.

I don't even remember how exactly Charles started in

on Dick Bavetta.

-Well, Charles and I have done

a batch of games together, and I love it...

-I honestly think this is much easier than the studio.

-...because you just don't know what Charles is going to say.

-I like working with Marv better than I do Ernie and Kenny.

-There was one game we did in Sacramento,

and a very colorful referee,

Dick Bavetta, was working the game.

And Dick didn't get back on a play.

He was a little slow.

-How old is Dick Bavetta?

-I would say late 60s.

-Oh, you gotta be kidding me. And he's still officiating?

I'll donate $10,000 to your favorite charity

if Dick Bavetta can outrun me, court end-to-end.

-This became a big thing on the studio show.

-I'm waiting, Charles!

-Dick Bavetta putting some $5,000 for charity up

and wants to race you at All-Star weekend.

-You know what? -What?

-I can't believe somebody 67 years old got the audacity

to try to trash talk.

-To be the greatest athletes of the world,

what makes us great is our competitive nature.

So if you challenge him, I know he's going to accept.

-You can't let Dick beat you, man.

Please don't. Please.

I'm begging you. Please.

-I'll take Dick over Charles.

-I think Charles can suck it up for two and a half.

You make it five lengths, I got Dickie.

-If it's all even, there's no way he can win.

-Whatever happens, it's gonna be funny.

[ Laughs ]

-May have been the worst race I've ever seen in my life.

-On your mark, get set, go!

-Okay.

-It's like watching a turtle race a snail.

-Two and a half to go,

and Barkley with the advantage.

-I thought they were gonna keel over

after they each took a couple of steps.

-It was just magnificent theater.

[ Laughing ] It really was.

And to see them come to the finish line,

and Charles feeling so good that he's gonna back pedal.

-Come on, Chuck. -End-to-end, that is...

-Come on, Chuck, yeah!

-Oh!

-Oh, no!

[ Laughter ]

-It's Charles! -No, Chuck got it.

Chuck got it. -Somehow!

-Chuck got it. -Aw!

-[ Laughing ] It was ridiculous.

It really -- it was ridiculous.

But it was also just so much of what our show is all about,

and then to have it punctuated by, you know,

Dick giving Charles a kiss right on the lips.

And if you've been around Dick Bavetta at all,

he does that to everybody.

He see you after he hasn't seen you in awhile,

and he gives you a big kiss.

But that frame is frozen for eternity.

-I'm Tara August.

I'm vice president of talent relations

and special projects.

I've been working on "Inside the NBA" since 2005.

-I bought some cigarettes, y'all.

-Why'd you buy cigarettes?

-'Cause I just gotta say something.

After I went through security, I needed a cigarette.

-Oh, my! [ Cymbal crash ]

-Whoo! -There are times that I cringe,

and there are times when I know the public may not like this,

the league may not like this,

and sort of trying to decide,

you know, did we cross the line?

-They gave me the pat-down.

-[ Laughs ] There's actual footage here?

-Did we do something wrong?

-I needed a cigarette.

-[ Laughs ] Ah!

-Charles 100% makes us nervous as hell

because he thinks he has diplomatic immunity.

-Dude touched my junk.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Yeah, how do you -- how do you --

-Guess what he said to me after that really offended me, Ernie.

-What? -He said, "I guess it ain't true

what they say." [ Laughter ]

-That's the beauty of these guys being unscripted

is that a lot of times

they're gonna say something that entertains us

or makes us think or challenges us.

But sometimes they're gonna say something

that maybe wasn't perfect.

-Those guys aren't invited to production meetings,

with the exception of Ernie.

-15 minutes. -See? Sign of a great producer.

-I brought them in once, and Charles said,

"If you ever bring me in one of these [bleep] things again,

I'm gonna kill you."

But then I thought to myself, what's the point?

-This is a Bible. -Yep.

-I'm praying that Jacque Vaughn gets off the side tonight.

-[ Laughs ] What? -He's got to score tonight.

-I expect them to know what to say, what to do.

-And now we're told that he has made a layup.

-He did? -Yes.

-See, first of all -- -The power of prayer.

-The power of prayer! -There you go.

-It worked.

-Why should we have to have a production meeting?

And then one of the guys has a comment.

And, you know, the producer says, "Hey, that's great.

Remember that."

Well, you know what they're doing?

For the next three hours till the show, they're trying to

remember what it was they were supposed to say,

instead of just letting it come out.

-But just being unscripted does not fully describe the show...

-What do you think the world record is for sit-ups?

-...because there is a structure and there is a format

and there is a plan.

The plan includes unscripted moments.

-Ready? Two, three...

-Wait. Those aren't legal. Those are not legal, man.

-The bigger-picture plan

is to kind of allow that chaos to reign...

-I hate y'all, man. -Oh!

-I'm serious. -...and to do it in a way

where the viewer and, you know, the people on this show

are kind of having these discoveries at the same time.

[ Laughter ]

-Are you kidding me?

-Y'all are rude, man. Y'all are rude!

-I'm not ashamed to show that.

-I am not feeling y'all right now.

I am not feeling y'all at all right now.

-I remember I'm in a sports bar and I'm watching it

and, you know, it's such a big game,

they actually have the sound up.

And so they get to halftime.

And Ernie turns to Charles and he says,

"Hey, Charles, what are your impressions on the first half?"

And Charles is -- he's not even paying attention to Ernie.

He's looking at a monitor off camera.

And Charles turns to Ernie, and he says,

"Ernie..." -What?

-Roy Jones just got knocked out.

Oh, my God,

I wasn't paying attention to that game.

Roy Jones just got knocked out.

-And so Ernie says, "Yeah, but Charles,

we're here to cover basketball, not boxing."

And Charles says, "Hey, man, I've seen the Lakers and Spurs

play a million playoff games.

I've never seen Roy Jones Jr. get knocked out,

and I'm going over here to watch the fight."

Now, that had nothing to do with basketball, okay?

But I still remember that moment

more than I would remember any analysis that he gave

about the Spurs running the pick and roll.

-Roy Jones got knocked out?

-And it was six to one.

Six to one. -When we come back --

-I don't mean Roger Maris, either.

-And that's the beauty of Charles.

And at first, it threw people off,

but nobody turned the channel.

People kept tuning in because they were like.

"Well, we don't know what he's gonna say, and he doesn't care."

He will literally start talking about a game in Cleveland

and end up talking about the Republican candidate.

-Yeah, the next governor -- -I'm in shock right now.

-Are you really? -Can't believe we don't have

a president-elect.

I'm disappointed. I'm just in shock right now.

They gotta declare a winner.

They got people voting who not even alive

down there in Florida.

-Let's be totally honest.

He changed the landscape of these kind of shows

for everybody.

-Those people have along

The government has done a terrible job.

FEMA is a disgrace.

We've got to get those people back on their feet,

get them back in school,

get them jobs, and rebuild their communities.

-Charles made it okay to go outside the boundaries.

-He does say whatever he wants.

You don't like this? The NBA isn't stupid.

They know no matter what he says,

he's an ambassador for the NBA.

He's a reason people tune in to the NBA.

You know, what's he gonna say next?

-It's not easily navigated, but "Inside the NBA"

does it, really, with a great finesse,

because Charles, as he has gone on,

has become more comfortable.

He's always been outspoken.

-Some of people don't like my sense of humor.

-He's always spoken his mind.

Turn off your damn television.

-This is what I got to say.

-It's not easy to do, especially when you're famous,

and especially when you know that every sound bite's

gonna turn into a headline.

-I'm not gonna change.

If you don't like me or the show, turn it off.

-You've been really honest and open

about your personal life, and if you don't mind,

I'd like to ask you about 2003 to 2006.

-Oh, let's see where I start with that.

Um...2003 was tough.

Um...

Um...

This is a great time to unveil...

And welcome back to "Inside."

I had this feeling that something maybe was wrong

because I had this -- I had --

I could feel this thing right around here,

the swelling.

If I said "Florida"...

Doctor told me it was non-Hodgkin's lymphoma,

and he said,

"But we're not gonna do anything about it right now.

You feel great.

So we're gonna do this watchful waiting."

And I'm on the record as saying that TV people

are the most insecure people in the world.

You know, Kenny thinks it's, you know,

athletes and that kind of thing,

but I know for a fact

that it's folks like me who work in TV.

-It became apparent.

You could see there was a growth on his neck,

and I asked him about it, and he said,

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just swollen glands."

And, you know, he wasn't ready to go public.

-I started to get some swelling in my lymph nodes in 2006,

um...

you know, that would signal that no longer was I asymptomatic.

I was -- you know, my lymph nodes were

starting to show that I was going through something.

"Inside the NBA" presented by Hyundai.

Good evening, everybody.

The All-Star Game came up in 2006,

and I remember showing up at the arena

and seeing some of my friends from the NBA,

and I could tell that they were like, "Is everything alright?"

But nobody was saying anything.

And that year, the NBA had said,

"Hey, when we do the starting lineups

for the All-Star Game this year,

we want you on the court welcoming everybody

to the NBA All-Star Game 2006.

Welcome to Toyota Center in Houston, Texas,

for the 55th annual NBA All-Star Game.

And I was honored to do that.

And I was also, like, so scared that I was gonna...

look like something wasn't right.

I told my wife, I said, "Would you record the game?"

Um...

And I came home, and I was like --

I started looking at the tape.

This is basketball's ultimate stage

where the league's best put on an amazing display.

And I had asked her, I said, "When you watched it,

did you think that you saw that something wasn't right?"

And she said, "Yeah."

And I watched it, and I was like --

I said, "I'm gonna have to say something."

-At that point, he was getting ready to go in for treatment,

serious treatment, was gonna have to miss time.

So I think he figured that was the best time to explain it.

And this was the beginning of Twitter.

People notice what you wear.

They notice everything about you and make comments.

-Houston, we have an All-Star Game.

And I had seen some stuff online,

and, you know, "What is up with Ernie Johnson's face?"

and -- and some other stuff that was kind of...

um...

a little harsher than that.

-We taped it. I remember that.

We just put him up by himself

and, you know, went commercial, commercial.

We didn't have Chuck and those guys with him.

They obviously reacted later.

-Alright, by now, you may have read or heard

that I'm dealing with something that millions of people

in this country have dealt with -- cancer.

To me, that was -- it allowed me to kind of

free up and do my job without worrying about,

are people gonna wonder if something's up?

I've already told them.

My intention has been to not make it public.

I feel great, haven't missed a day of work.

But the swelling of a lymph node here on my face

has become noticeable on the air, and I felt...

That was just a message. I just --

I mean, I've got a mother and a sister

who are both cancer survivors.

And what I wanted to tell people is, "Look, I've got cancer,

and I'm not gonna go into hiding."

I'm gonna work the rest of the NBA season and the playoffs

and this summer begin a treatment regimen

that will likely include some form of chemotherapy.

And then whether you like it or not, I'm coming back to work.

Came back for opening night the next year.

Went in -- was in remission from...

...well, since 2006.

But it was cool 'cause that opening night,

the folks at Turner had put together a tape

with several of the players wishing me well and...

-E.J., it's your boy T-Mac.

Hope you're having a great recovery.

-Yo, what up, E.J.?

I'm happy everything went well, man, with everything,

with all the treatment and everything.

-Glad to hear you're doing so well.

I couldn't help it.

You inspired me to get my hair cut, just like you, man.

-Glad you're okay, brother.

You look good with that bald head.

-Closed it out with Kobe saying, "Hey..." you know.

-Welcome to the land of the brothers.

[ Laughs ] Be safe. God bless you.

And hopefully I'll see you soon.

-And that was nice.

But, um...

Undeniably, there's this -- these great family ties that...

...that you feel in times like that.

LeBron James joins us from Cleveland tonight.

[ Laughter ] LeBron -- yeah, thank you

very much for your kind words.

And you get a real sense of the NBA family

at the same time,

that you got a lot of folks pulling for you.

♪♪

Next.

♪♪

-Paper towel, somebody? -How's it going?

-Napkin? -Napkins right there.

-Man, we been at it six years now.

[ Speaks indistinctly ]

-So, Shaq -- -Michelle, look at the camera

and make sure my eyes ain't watering, please, honey-bunny?

-Ready to start?

-You got it. -Thank you.

-Hi, my name is Dr. Shaquille O'Neal.

I'm an NBA TNT analyst on "Inside the NBA."

I started working here in 2011.

-Did you watch "Inside the NBA" when you were a player?

-I watched "Inside the NBA" as a player

for one reason only.

On a lonely day in 1989, this guy came to my house.

You got that footage of Ernie interviewing me?

-I spent some time with the Shaq earlier this week

and found that he's learned to play this game one way.

-No matter who the opponent is,

you know, just go out and kill him.

If he's small, short, big, fat, tall,

just go out and kill him.

-[ Laughs ] Who taught you that?

-My father. -[ Laughs ]

-I always had a affinity and a great respect

and a great love for you,

'cause I talk about this all the time.

You don't believe it.

When Ernie came to my house in 1989,

he made me the man on my little army base.

You got Ernie Johnson coming to your crib to interview you?

And then I was like, you know, "I'd love to work

with Ernie, you, and Charles."

-No, you know what's funny?

We almost fired you after three weeks.

When he first got here, he's like,

"I want to be Ernie or Bryant Gumbel."

Like, "Yo, man."

-So when he started, he was terrible.

He thought things were funny that weren't funny.

He didn't want to talk about basketball ever.

And he really thought he was just gonna walk on the set

and be "lights, camera, action," great basketball analyst.

And he wasn't.

-So the first year I got here, I was on my Bryant Gumbel trip.

I wanted to talk intelligent and move my hands and all that.

-How much do you weigh, Shaq? -340, 345.

-But it looks good in that -- what color is that jacket?

-This is Orlando pine green. -Oh.

-It looks good in there. -Thank you. Appreciate it.

-No longer the biggest guy on the set, Charles.

-The first thing the critics said was, "Well, he mumbles,"

you know, "He's not well-spoken,"

or whatever they were saying.

Well, what they didn't know was

his father had always lectured him to not talk,

let his game talk.

So, of course, Shaq did this.

[ Mumbles ]

And that's what people thought he spoke like, and he doesn't.

-A lot of people think I mumble.

No, you need to turn up your equipment!

I talk like everyone else. What are you talking about?

I have a deep voice. It's not my fault.

I do not mumble. Shut it up.

-I did have to push him because that was

his natural feeling, to talk like that.

So he had a couple of shows where he was mumbling

just 'cause it was habit.

We had it out once or twice,

and then he started to do better.

Then he goes in and he just falls backwards into this --

one half-time, he just fell all the way back

into his bad habits.

I walked downstairs, and I grabbed him,

and I was livid.

-And he ripped me a new one.

He said, "We didn't bring you here for that."

-So when you're M.F.-ing Shaq, you're doing this, right,

'cause he's nine feet tall.

I'm going, "Son of a bitch!"

Just calling him every name and...

-He said, "We don't want you to do that."

You want to do that, go somewhere else."

-I said, "Are we good?

Do you understand what I'm talking about?

Are we good?" And he goes, "Yep."

And I turned around, and he grabbed me

by the scruff of the neck and the back of my pants

and went like this and picked me up.

[ Laughing ] And I'm a fat-ass.

And it was just like, I looked down and I went, "Okay?"

And he went, "I can do this.

You can do that. And that's it."

And then he put me down as gently

as if he was putting a baby down.

He's a terrifying individual. [ Laughs ]

-When you first started,

did Ernie give you any advice that you remember?

-He just said, "Okay, take your time

and just have fun and just be you."

I said, "Oh, you want me to be the Shaq."

-Introducing the man in the middle,

Shaquille O'Neal!

Can you dig it?!

-♪ Dun dun-dun-dun-dun-dun dun-dun-dun ♪

Reach back.

-He wants to make people happy,

and he wants to make people laugh.

-Here we go. Playoffs coming.

Not tomorrow. The next day.

Where do we begin? -Where?

-Is it Miami? Or is it Boston?

-I don't know. -Shaq is that guy who is --

he's an ultimate entertainer

-You know with freestyle, the rapping --

-It was nice! -Hey, Ernie's light-skinned.

He knows about the hip-hop culture.

-Yeah, you're right, Ernie. We're all Black friends.

-We are all Black friends.

-Ernie's from the mean streets of Milwaukee, man.

-Yes, sir. North 68th Street.

That's what separates him from a lot of folks

who would be in that position, is that,

"Oh, you want to have fun? Yeah, I can have fun."

-He's the world's biggest 11-year-old.

-I need answers right now. -Oh!

-I need the answers. Give me the answers!

-I think, you know, there was a lot of slapstick before,

but he brings a new level of it.

-Well, I learned quickly that Ernie ain't no punk.

Ernie's not a punk. No way.

[ Laughter ]

-When Ernie hit Shaq in the back with the chair,

then he takes a little bottle and pop him on the head.

-I don't know what that bottle was capable of doing.

I said, "If I really haul off and hit him,

I don't want to cut him in the back of his skull."

So I just -- just -- yeah, it was just like this.

It was just like...

[ Laughter ]

-There's so many great shows in the history of television.

Right?

But in the sports world,

there have only been a few.

And for "Inside the NBA" to get all the acclaim

that it's gotten through the years,

which it so richly has deserved,

it had to be something special

that could sit in the pantheon of great television shows --

dramas...

-The league now. -Okay, but hold on.

DeAndre Jordan is... -If he can't score,

how the hell he gonna be a top big man, stupid?

-...news shows... -The league will use this hiatus

to determine the next steps.

-...comedies. -From great to good.

-And "Inside the NBA" deserves to be there with the greats.

[ Cheering ]

-Ernie Johnson is the glue.

Like a conductor of an orchestra,

he hits the right notes.

-He's the funniest guy on the show.

But the beauty is he doesn't have an ego

that has to get out in front of that.

-I don't get offended by being called the wrong name.

-I do. -You do?

-Yeah. -Who do they mistakeyou

-I went to -- -Shrek?

-No, I went to --

[ Laughter ]

-[ Laughing ] That was -- that was really good.

-In this role, you know, I've been called a traffic cop.

But a really good traffic cop, you know,

doesn't want any fender benders at his intersection.

He wants to wave this car through while this one stops

and keep everything orderly.

Me -- I'm like the rogue traffic cop...

Time for "Shrek Been a Fool." -[ Laughing ] Oh, man!

-Presented by hotels.com.

...because too often I'm smiling at Kenny and waving him

into the intersection, knowing full well that Shaq

is gonna broadside him, you know?

So I'm a little bent in that regard.

[ Laughter ]

-Ernie's on you, man. He's on you, man.

-Ernie is just pitch-perfect in those circumstances.

He has a sense of humor. He has a sense of irony.

He can be self-deprecating.

He's been around the league long enough to know

its history inside and out.

And he has a very good sense, like a center iceman in hockey

or a point guard,

of what the strengths of the people alongside him are

and how to best set him up.

-I would never want to work with a guy

who wanted to be the center of attention,

who didn't know how to make a pass to his teammates.

I played with guys like that and they suck.

-Come on, Chuck. -So go ahead, tell them --

tell them what we're mad at. -You know...

-We the mad hosts. We the mad rappers.

-I'm boycotting -- I'm boycotting the show tonight.

-Tell him why you're mad, son.

-Yo, Ernie's got a big article in "USA Today."

-Tell them why you're mad. -And it says,

"He is a rare personality who can banter" --

like, banter -- "with big egos

and still keep the show on track."

-Tell him while we mad, Chuck. -We not big egos.

You don't keep the show on the tracks.

We're big egos, and you're the guy who keep it on the track.

-Did I write that? Did I write that --

that was a headline writer who wrote that.

Now, Jill Lieber...

-No, she asked me, did I have an ego?

-...wrote a tremendous -- -And I said, "I have an ego."

-"USA Today" is my favorite newspaper, I might add,

but we're not big egos who banter

and you keep the show on track.

-I agree totally with you. -Well, ugh.

"A rare personality." -"A rare personality."

-Ernie can carry a show for 45 minutes,

and you never know that there was chaos

going on in the background

and that everything has broken down.

-Yeah. Yeah. -Take the shot.

-Don't hit me in the head.

[ Laughter ]

Come on, Zeke!

[ Laughter ]

I knew it was coming.

-One of the hard things is, you know the rundown,

and you know when you have to end

and when you have to begin,

and you have to somehow get in,

get out with people counting down in your ear,

people telling you to do things,

but yet at the same time, you're looking at these guys

and you're keeping them on track

and allowing them to say what they want to say

and get out what they need to get out.

Without Ernie,

these guys would not be the beautiful machine or team.

-Yeah, I think it'll work great.

Can you name the nine judges?

We want to let him sweat a little bit.

So, you know --

-But, see, nobody out here can name the nine judges.

-That's okay. I mean, that's alright.

And I'll give hints.

-When I was coming up as a sports reporter

and you would go to a game, you'd have a sheet.

And on one side of the sheet, it would be one team.

On the other side of the sheet would be the other team.

And you would chart every single basket.

And I thought when you got to the national level,

you don't need to do that anymore.

There's people that would chart that information for you.

But here's Ernie furiously writing notes

as he's watching two different games,

and he goes out to set with like 15 pages of notes.

-He got these notes down to the every "I" is dotted,

every "T" is crossed,

always prepared, always

-The day I told -- 'cause Ernie has all the notes

and he has everything in order.

And Charles is new. -We can do in a game break.

-He's like, "What's those?" I'm like, "Those his notes.

He just keeps them there to make sure everything's in order."

-It's the format for the post-game show

with a couple of notes written in it.

So we're gonna go from here to here to here.

-And I realized he didn't know what it was

and how important it was, and I egged him on.

I said, "I bet you want to take those from Ernie."

And he's like, "I won't even take them.

I'll rip them up." And so now I go,

"Oh, he definitely don't know how important these are."

And so now Ernie hears us. He says, "Charles, don't play."

-Don't even think about it. -"Don't think about it.

This is -- don't do it."

So I was like, "Oh, you're not gonna really -- "

I thought he was gonna do one of these -- foom! --

then fake it.

So Charles takes it, and he rips it up, right?

-He was mad? -Oh, no, wait!

You know, Ernie -- God bless --

is the most Christian man I know.

"That shit wasn't funny." [ Laughter ]

And he didn't speak to us the rest of the show.

And the first time he was -- I was scared.

I was like, "Ernie's not -- might swing on me,"

'cause he was like, "You started it

'cause you gave him the notes."

I was like...

-So I just froze him out of the next segment.

When we came back -- yeah, 'cause I was ready to --

I was ready. If I had a cup of coffee,

I was ready to throw a cup of coffee in his face.

I was -- I was hot.

-First time I heard him curse, ever.

Because internally I was just crying

'cause I had never heard him curse.

-I won't ever do that again.

-No, no, no, no, no, no.

You know, 'cause you know what that did to me in that moment?

It said, "These guys don't respect what I do."

That's what that said to me.

I've been working on this sh-- you know, on this show.

-"Sh!"

-No, I've been working on this show.

No, no.

-Now I think we appreciate him a lot more

for all the hard work he put in.

We have no idea what segments are.

I mean, he is so prepared for all that stuff.

He makes it fun to come to work.

-He is a Hall of Fame and a half.

I don't know if he's in Naismith yet, but he needs to be there.

He is a legend.

-I got an awesome glimpse of Ernie as a person.

A few years ago, Turner asked me

to present an Emmy with Ernie.

At the end of the night, Ernie's up for, like,

top broadcasting host,

and Stuart Scott had just passed away.

-I was there that night,

and I remember thinking to myself

as they read off the nominees,

"I hope Stuart Scott wins."

-Everyone, I think, kind of thought

it was gonna go to Stuart Scott, but Ernie won.

And Ernie stands up,

and he looks at his wife, and he goes,

"You're coming with me." And she goes, "No, I'm not."

They go up there, and Ernie begins to shower

his wife with praise.

-This is my lovely wife, Cheryl.

We've been married for 32 years, and...

-As he's finishing up his speech, he goes,

"But I'd like to call up the daughters of Stuart Scott."

-As for this, there's only one place it belongs,

and that's on the mantel at Stuart Scott's house.

So if the girls could come up, please.

-Stuart Scott's daughters come up on stage,

and he gives the trophy to the daughters and says,

"This is your trophy now for your dad,

who was incredible and we all loved."

-We're honored to be able to be here

-Started crying.

because he can't be here, so...

It was like, gosh.

Even now, you know, you just --

he does all the right things, he really does.

He means well.

-It was such a touch of grace and class

and honest, heartfelt emotion.

It showed what people felt about Stuart, who was a lovely guy.

But it was also a quintessential Ernie Johnson moment.

-You couldn't do the show --

you couldn't do the show without a lot of people.

Look, Charles gets a lot of shine.

Shaq gets a lot of shine.

Like, Ernie Johnson --

you need Ernie Johnson and not only in the show.

Like, you need an Ernie Johnson in your life

to help maintain all this crazy shit that we go through.

You need him.

-He's always made me feel welcome.

He's always made me feel like it's okay.

-This show's obviously better with Ernie, of course,

but I actually think the people are better because of Ernie.

He kind of represents the moral compass for not only the show,

but for a lot of people.

-Welcome back to "Inside the NBA,"

presented by TNT.

Time for a new episode of "Game of Zones"...

-Well...I'll be open.

I struggle with depression,

anxiety sometimes,

and I've gotten help for it,

but the biggest help I've ever...

[ Clears throat ]

...I've ever gotten was from Ernie.

-Tim Kiley, the producer.

-This is called the Ernie Johnson saunter

as he saunters out the door.

-What suit are you wearing today?

-When you think you have troubles,

and you see what he's gone through --

he adopted children that need a lot of care.

You know, he gave up his life.

You know, I'm getting to that age,

I'm an empty nester,

and it's like my kids are off and gone,

and he's constantly having to deal with those situations.

And so when I get the blues, I talk to Ernie,

and everything's okay.

-I think Ernie's ability to take a bad situation

and turn it into a life lesson is unprecedented.

-When I had the lymphoma thing way back when

and I called these -- this was before you got here --

I called these two guys into the office at separate times

to tell them because, you know,

it was something that I was gonna put out there.

And -- -That was tough for me.

-Yeah, well, it was. I mean, and that --

in my office, and I called you in, and I said,

"Look, I gotta tell you something.

You know, I'm kind of swelling up here,

and I've known what I have,

and now we're gonna have to treat it.

And so I got cancer, but..."

And what's the one thing I told both of you guys

in those conversations?

I said, "Do not let this mess with the show."

I do not want you guys to be saying,

"Oh, now we can't have any fun with Ernie

because he's a cancer guy.

Now I'm gonna be the bad guy if I make a joke about it."

And, you know, and it was like, "No, no.

We won't let the dynamic of the show change."

-Just being honest, that was the first time

that I actually cried at Turner.

Like, I walked out, and I was like, "Damn."

-A regular cry or a Joel Embiid cry?

[ Laughter ]

-There you go. That's our show right there.

That's our show. Kenny trying to be --

Kenny trying to make a valid point, and he's like...

[ Laughter ]

With the scope of our show over 30 years

and our willingness to go outside the boundaries

and talk about things that impact all of us,

I think we've kind of been an example

to anybody watching at home

who takes themselves too seriously, need to say,

"Hey, don't take yourself so seriously.

Be able to laugh. Be able to laugh at yourself.

We're all gonna screw up."

And at the end of the day, we're all just like,

"Man...what another great day to work with my brothers."

And -- and that's what makes it special.

♪♪

-Guarantee, guarantee!

-Whoo! -Double guarantee.

-Put the gun down! Put the gun down!

-I mean, could you tell us?

-Well, I got up at 5:30 -- [ Buzzer ]

-They installed this buzzer last night.

-Thank you very much. [ Laughter ]

I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

-He's good, man! [ Laughter ]

-There's still dirt in the diaper.

We're supposed to clean it.

[ Indistinct talking ]

-Google me.

-This is out of control right now.

It's out of control.

♪♪

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