Barkley Feels Pressure: To Perform Or Collect?

Charles Barkley has been saying since the season started that he’s feeling more pressure than he ever has in his NBA career.

The reason, he says, is that the Houston Rockets gave up so much to get him, trading four players who were an integral part of their success - Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown - to the Suns.

Barkley might be feeling another kind of pressure, however.

It’s been widely reported that Barkley’s contract is for $4.6 million this season and $4.5 million next season, but next year’s figure includes $2 million in bonus money.

In order to receive the bonus, Barkley either has to be named to the first or second All-NBA team this season (he was third team last year), or he has to finish in the top seven in the league in both scoring and rebounding.

Falling short of those feats will reduce his salary to $2.5 million.

Muggsy feels sting

Don’t look now, but one of the hottest teams in the NBA is the Charlotte Hornets. Yes, the same team that was written off after trading away the likes of Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson. Draft pick Kobe Bryant wouldn’t even sign with them and Charlotte twisted the arm of Vlade Divac to play there.

Last week, the Hornets stung the Knicks, Pistons and SuperSonics at home, then lost at Toronto. The win against Seattle ended the Sonics’ 11-game winning streak.

One of the reasons for the success is the resurgence of Muggsy Bogues, who is being stung these days by the needles of an acupuncturist.

Dr. Daniel Motuz says he’s “not a voodoo doctor” but he is something of a maverick. When Bogues received his last treatment, Motuz was wearing blue jeans and a green Looney Tunes ski-bum shirt.

Bogues, who’s missing much of the cartilage in his left knee, thought acupuncture was a lot of nonsense until he became desperate for a cure.

So far it’s working.

On the courts

Miami tied a franchise record with its seventh straight win, escaping with a 78-77 win over the Boston Celtics when Dee Brown and Todd Day missed shots in the final 4 seconds.

With four starters on the bench, including Patrick Ewing, the New York Knicks scored a season-high 41 points in the fourth quarter in a 115-101 win over the Kings that ended a three-game losing streak.