Blogger Q&A with TNT analyst Charles Barkley

TNT analyst and former NBA player Charles Barkley answered questions from some of the nation's top basketball bloggers on Wednesday. Here is a transcript of that session:

• Neil from www.Basketball-Reference.com

Who is your pick for Finals MVP after 3 games? Has Pau Gasol realistically done enough, or will Kobe still win if the Lakers win this series?

Charles Barkley: That's a great question. Kobe probably will win it. But if I had a vote, I'd probably go with Pau.

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• Don from www.With-Malice.com

Charles, every series Derek Fisher has been supposedly mismatched at the point, yet every series Derek Fisher has come up big for the Lakers. We Laker fans like to point to Fish's "intangibles". Are you able to quantify those for us?

CB: Well he's not afraid of the big moment. He's been in a lot of [them]. He's just not afraid. A lot of guys get nervous and intimidated in certain situations and he does not. He's just a terrific player and a great guy.

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• John from www.RedsArmy.com

You were never the biggest guy on the floor, but you still managed to average about 12 boards a game over your career. Rebounding is playing a huge role in this series... so how do guys who aren't as tall as Andrew Bynum or Kevin Garnett sneak in and get those rebounds? Is there an art to it, or is that just something some guys can do and others can't?

CB: There's really not an art to it -- you just have to go get the ball. One of my college coaches told me "everybody talks about boxing out and things like that, but at some point you just need to go get the ball. Plain and simple."

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• Regnard from www.BigLakersFan.net

What are your theories how Ray Allen went from a great record-setting Game 2 (8 three-pointers, most in an NBA Finals game) to a dubious record-setting Game 3 (0-13 shooting, worst by a Celtic)?

CB: It just happens sometimes. If you go back - and we talked about this on the air -- the record belongs to Dennis Johnson who was a great, great player. He went 0-14. So it just goes to show you that even a great player can have a bad night every now and then. I'm really excited about Dennis Johnson going to the Hall of Fame, he should have been in there sooner -- but it's ironic that Ray didn't break his record.

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• Chuck from www.HoopsVibe.com

Between them, L.A. and Boston have seven current or former All-Stars, only a few of who perform on a given night. Why is it so tough to guess who is going to show up?

CB: That's a really good question. It's frustrating watching that -- not just in this series. Every now and then you're supposed to have games that you're not dominant in but some of this basketball I've watched in the finals is just bad basketball. It just hasn't been a very good Finals so far, to be honest. You take away Ray Allen's Game 2 performance and Pau is probably the most consistent Laker but they don't go to him enough. It's been just very choppy basketball, plain and simple.

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• Adam from www.RaptorsHQ.com

Chuck - The Lakers look pretty set talent-wise for the next few years, even with Andrew Bynum on half a leg. Do you think the team will actually dare to mess with the current chemistry by trying to acquire Chris Bosh?

CB: I think they're going to do something. I said three years ago...going into the finals...they're going to be favored for the next five years because they have Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. That's just the way it is. The NBA and the rest of the world are just going to have to deal with it.