Opinions Cost Barkley $20,000

Houston forward Charles Barkley was fined $20,000 by the league Thursday for critical remarks he made about referee Mike Mathis after the Rockets’ overtime loss at Phoenix on Wednesday.

Barkley, however, didn’t seem to care.

“It definitely ain’t free speech, that’s an oxymoron,” said Barkley, who was also fined $5,000 and suspended a game this season for brawling with the Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal. “I don’t worry about the league. I’ve been fined. . . . Fines don’t mean anything to players. . . . That’s the league’s idea of kissing up to people.

“I’m going to do my own thing. Go out and work my [butt] off and if something happens, I’m going to defend myself.”

Barkley also doesn’t plan to stop talking.

“I’m going to say what I want to say,” he said. “I pay taxes like everybody else. . . . Famous people, especially athletes, [can’t have an opinion]. I am going to do the same thing I’ve done the last 16 years. I speak my mind if I’m asked.

“I’ve done this before. If I think an official’s bad, I’ll speak that.”

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Houston Coach Rudy Tomjanovich has a solid rookie in Steve Francis, who did not play Thursday because of an ankle sprain, but he had high praise for the Clippers’ Lamar Odom.

“He’s going to be a great player for many years to come,,” Tomjanovich said. “He’s got that feel for the game where he makes other people better. He has tremendous skills. He has great passing ability to find other people.”

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Second-year big man Brian Skinner ranks eighth in the league in blocks at 2.5 per game. Coach Chris Ford credits Skinner for the Clippers’ improved halfcourt defense.

“Brian eliminates a lot of our mistakes,” Ford said. “By his blocked shots and how he comes over and bothers people. He really helps us on the defensive end of the court.”