It’s well known at this point. Charles Barkley does not like the Golden State Warriors fans or the City of San Francisco. On Thursday, he had to deal with both. And the results were hilarious, thanks largely to Shaquille O’Neal.
Barkley, O’Neal and the rest of the Inside the NBA team were in San Francisco for their coverage of Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Unlike when the series was in Dallas, Barkley was not given a hero’s welcome in San Francisco, with the fans chanting, “Chuck, you suck” at him. These chants were hurled at Barkley in Games 1 and 2 before his comments about San Francisco in Game 4, which did nothing to quiet them.
Shaq also did nothing to quiet those chants. In fact, he blatantly encouraged them, even playing along. While the fans were chanting, Shaq was giving them some musical accompaniment, blowing into a double airhorn, with Warriors colors, of course.
https://twitter.com/NBAonTNT/status/1529978623859609616
It’s this kind of stuff that reminds us why this show is the absolute best.
Barkley, of course, leaned into it, as he always does. And there’s something equal parts refreshing and funny about the fans cheering when Barkley said, “You suck, too.” At the very least, all parties in this rivalry don’t seem to want it to go away.
About Michael Dixon
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