Every time the scoreboard flashed Charles Barkley's image Sunday night, the largest crowd to watch a Golden State Warriors home game burst into impassioned mass booing.

The last time the Warriors reached the playoffs in 1994, Barkley, then with the Phoenix Suns, ended Golden State's brief postseason run with a 56-point tour de force. But as is often the case with the Hall of Famer, it wasn't his deeds but his words that aroused such ire Sunday.

The TNT commentator had steadfastly stuck to his prediction that the top-seeded Mavericks would eventually dispatch the pesky, eighth-seeded Warriors, going as far as wearing the jersey of Dallas All-Star Dirk Nowitzki during Sunday's telecast.

Golden State is riding a 3-1 series advantage going into Tuesday's Game 5 at Dallas, as well as a surge in confidence, having beaten the Mavs nine out of the last 11 times.

"They're like a team that's on the moment right now," Dallas' Josh Howard said.