By ANDREW MARCHAND

Every Friday in NYP TV Sports, our sports television pullout that appears in the middle of the print edition and online, we present “Five Questions for …” This is the 6th Question, where we present more of my interview.

This week I spoke with NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley.

Q: You picked the Nets in the Eastern Conference to go to the Finals. Who do you think is their main competition?

A: Miami is going to be interesting because: Can they stay healthy? They have a really old team. Detroit is still a question mark in terms of missing Ben Wallace and their coaching situation.

It was really unfair how those players tuned on Flip [Saunders] last year during the playoffs. I’m interested to see if he can get that situation under control.

Q: In terms of the MVP, who do you like?

A:Tim Duncan because they will have one of the three or four best records so winning gives you a huge advantage. I think he had career lows in points and rebounds on one leg. I think he will be healthy.

Q: What’s the one thing that people don’t know about Charles Barkley?

A: I hope they understand that I don’t have a favorite team. I don’t have a favorite player. I’m just going to give you an honest, fair assessment of teams and players. People take it so personal at times. They think, ‘Oh, you don’t like this player or this team.’ I don’t care who wins or who loses.

I live in Phoenix and people say, ‘You don’t like the Suns.’ I say, ‘That’s not true, the Suns don’t play enough defense to win.’

Q: What do you think of Isiah Thomas?

A: I don’t think they are going to make the playoffs. I think they will be better, but they won’t have all that internal conflict going on. It will be very interesting to see if he can keep his job. I think they have a chance of being .500, but I don’t think that will get them in the playoffs. But my question is: Is that enough to save his job?