After nearly a decade-and-a-half, Charles Barkley is renewing his feud with Miami Heat fans.
The Basketball Hall of Famer Barkley took a notable shot at the Heat fanbase on Saturday prior to the team’s Game 3 showdown against the Cleveland Cavaliers. On the TNT pregame broadcast, Barkley credited Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra and actually picked the Heat to win Game 3. But with Saturday’s game taking place at Kaseya Center in Miami, Barkley also got in a swipe at the home crowd.
“That’s not a tough environment [to play in],” said Barkley of the Heat arena. “That’s not a tough environment.”
Even when then reminded of Miami’s success during the play-in tournament, Barkley replied, “Yeah but that’s still not a hostile environment.”
You can see the video below.
Barkley’s dislike of Heat fans dates back to at least 2011 (when The Big Three of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh were still headlining the roster). During that era, Heat fans were very often criticized for being fair-weather, and Barkley himself slammed them as “the worst fans” in the league. Once, Barkley even gave Heat fans the middle finger in the midst of a TNT broadcast in Miami (video here).
Fast-forwarding to the present day, the Heat ended up getting run out of their own gym by the Cavaliers, losing in a 124-87 howler to go down 0-3 in the series. Barkley was entirely correct that the Kaseya Center was not a difficult place for the Cavaliers to play in on Saturday and also may have put the infamous “Barkley Curse” on the Heat by picking them to win Game 3.
