CLEVELAND, May 5 (UPI) -- Gone are the gritty days of smash mouth NBA basketball, but don't tell that to Charles Oakley.
On Wednesday, Oakley stepped back into the time machine to throw some shade at TNT basketball analyst and NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley.
"Charles Barkley, you better stop talking [expletive] about Cleveland you was never tough you hide behind TNT," Oakley Tweeted.
Barkley is not officially on Twitter, but an unverified account with the handle @CharlesBarkley has more than 17,000 followers.
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Charles Barkley ,you better stop talking s*** about Cleveland you was never tough you hide behind TNT
— Charles Oakley (@CharlesOakley34) May 5, 2016
Oakley was born in Cleveland.
YouTube is packed with clips of Barkley and Oakley's battles throughout the 1980's and 90's. After the Cavaliers beat the Hawks 123-98 Wednesday, Barkley insinuated that Atlanta needed to "take somebody out" for the Cavaliers.
"When you say, 'Take them out,' what do you mean," TNT analyst Kenny Smith asked.
"Touch them up or take them out," host Ernie Johnson asked.
"Take them out," Barkley repeated on TNT.
"Oh, man, you can't say that on national TV," Shaquille O'Neal said on TNT.
"Yes, I can," Barkley said.
"You can't hurt anybody, Chuck," O'Neal said.
"I'm not trying to hurt them....You've got to take somebody out," Barkley said. "When a team is just embarrassing you, shooting 3's when the game is way over, just trying to set a record....You have to knock the (heck) out of them. Not for this game; to set the tone for the next game.''
"If you keep shooting 3's, I've got to take you down one time really hard," Barkley said.
"You've got to touch them up, good," Barkley said.
Barkley later responded to Oakley's tweet.
"Charles Oakley doesn't like me," Barkley said. "Which is no big deal. I don't like him or dislike him. He's not important enough for me to think about."
"He don't like me, I have no idea why."
Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson also got in on the action.
The Atlanta Hawks stood around and watched the Cavs make 25 3s to set the NBA record.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) May 5, 2016Advertisement
"The Atlanta Hawks stood around and watched the Cavs make 25 3s to set the NBA record," Johnson tweeted.
Oakley, 52, averaged 9.7 points and 9.5 rebounds in 19 NBA seasons. Barkley, 53, averaged 22.1 points and 11.7 in 16 NBA seasons.
