Barkley knows what kind of mentality an NBA superstar needs to have, and explains it in his own inimitable way: “Regarding Dirk Nowitzki and how he gave credit to his defenders during the second round of the playoffs versus Denver: ‘If a guy was sleeping and thought he could stop me, I’d go over to his house in the middle of the night and slap the hell out of him. If he even was dreaming about the fact that he could stop me, I would go to his house, and I’d just walk in his room and slap the hell out of him, and say, ‘Wake up. Don’t even think you can guard me.’ That’s the mentality you have to have if you’re gonna be a superstar in this league.”’