5. Barnes does the splits
Harrison Barnes took an embarrassing fall, somehow avoiding injury.
Barnes’ best ability was his availability.
Over the course of his Golden State career, he only played less than 78 games once. In his last season, Barnes dealt with injuries that only allowed him to play in 66 contests in the regular season, without missing one in the playoffs.
For all his flaws, Barnes has a great build. He’s tall and strong. His speed and quickness allow him to play solid defense, especially at the power forward position when his team decides to go small. While his offensive game never fully came around, he was able to hold his own on the defensive end.
In Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Memphis Grizzlies, Barnes was retreating to cut off a Courtney Lee drive. He slipped on a wet spot and lost control. He fell and did the splits, better than any gymnast could execute.
It looked painful and it was probably very jarring for Barnes in the moment. He got up and walked away from, luckily avoiding any major injury to any sensitive parts. After it was abundantly clear that he was going to be fine, the play becomes funny.
I mean, just look at it. How did that even happen? And how did he walk away unscathed? The Internet had fun with it because the Internet never loses. Fortunately, Barnes was all right and we can make fun of it now.
Next: Barnes in the Bay