The NBA Playoff tournament is moving along, with yet another team going home for the summer. Last night (as of this writing), the Golden State Warriors ended the season for the Dallas Mavericks with a 120-110 win, ending the series at 4-1. It’s not been a fun time for Sir Charles Barkley.
If you’ve been watching Inside the NBA during the playoffs – and who hasn’t? – then you know that Sir Charles is no fan of the Warriors. Not the team, not their home city of San Francisco, and not the fans. We’re not sure why, but with every chance he got to pick a winner as the series progressed, he sided with Dallas every time.
Unfortunately for Barkley, Inside the NBA went on the road this past week, broadcasting live from San Francisco before and during the games there. Live. Outdoors. With fans right there. For poor Sir Charles, it was brutal. And Shaq helped to make sure of that!
Compared to doing the show in Dallas, the reception for Barkley was powerful and hilarious. In Texas, Charles was pretty much given a hero’s welcome. The welcome – if you can call it that – was very different in the City By the Bay.
Chants of “Chuck, you suck” boiled up from the crowd behind the broadcast set. Yes, they were there during the first two games in San Francisco, but with Game 4, it went to a new level.
As for Shaq, he was definitely leading the charge – flat-out encouraging noisy fans, and playing along with the chants and shouts. Sometimes, he even provided musical accompaniment, blowing into a double air horn, with Warriors colors, of course.
To watch the full video on Twitter, click here.
Wild and crazy? For sure. Over the top? Of course. Just the kind of stuff that makes Inside the NBA so fun, so cool. The best hoops coverage on TV. And, big credit to Sir Charles… he took it well. He always does.
The Golden State Warriors now await the winner of the Eastern series between the Boston Celtics and the Miami Heat. Meanwhile, more honors for Warriors superstar Steph Curry, who was named the inaugural Most Valuable Player of the Western Conference finals. The award is named for former Lakers superstar Magic Johnson.