Golden State Warriors fans overran their diss war with TNT commentator Charles Barkley on Thursday, throwing a T-shirt and other item at him after their team secured a place in the NBA Finals. (Watch the video below.)
The “Inside the NBA” crew was lined up outside the Chase Center in San Francisco when Barkley was hit from behind by the shirt. Another item also flew toward him from the crowd, footage showed.
Barkley stood up and threatened to throw his coffee cup at the crowd, prompting TNT colleagues Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson to basically tell Barkley to cool it.
“Sit down, Chuck,” said an evidently unamused Smith.
Barkley went back to his seat and Johnson cut off a commercial.
During the Warriors’ 4-games-to-1 Western Conference Finals series triumph over the Dallas Mavericks, Barkley playfully (I think) pitted the Golden State faithful against him. He called the fans unpleasant, and said he hated them and wanted them to suffer in defeat. At one point he grumbled in response to their taunts that they suckle† He also complained about the “dirty streets†
Throwing things and other forms of violence, however, are unforgivable escalations.
Barkley seemed to be smiling during the duel, but it was only one mug away from getting really ugly.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
