Los Angeles Clippers fans went outside the box Tuesday for their free throw distraction against the visiting San Antonio Spurs.
The Spurs visited the Clippers for their season series finale inside Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. With the Clippers desperately needing a victory to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race, the team’s fans made sure to play their part.
The Clippers’ billion-dollar arena has a unique feature called “The Wall,” a steep 51-row section behind the opposing team’s basket once the squads switch sides after halftime. During the second half Tuesday against the Spurs, the fan section revealed their secret weapon: posters with Charles Barkley’s face on them.
“San Antonio’s #1 Enemy,” the posters read.
The @ClippersWall at Intuit Dome does its job again😂
— Grant "Money" Mona (@Gmona48) April 9, 2025
Check out the Charles Barkley signs for the Spurs 👇 pic.twitter.com/PQRJAXVwVq
Barkley’s decade-long beef with the City of San Antonio has been well documented. The Hall of Famer has feuded with the Alamo City even before 20-year-old Spurs rookie Stephon Castle hit puberty.
Castle was the first Spur to get to the free throw line in the second half. After drawing a shooting foul at the 7:02 mark of the third quarter, Castle split his foul shots in front of the Clippers’ wall of fans.
Spurs center Bismack Biyombo was the next one to step up to the line a few plays later when he scored a bucket plus the foul against James Harden. Biyombo missed his free throw as well.
The Spurs ended up shooting 5/9 from the charity stripe in the second half. Given that the Clippers won 122-117, those misses proved to be huge down the stretch.
While it’s impossible to prove whether the Barkley posters indeed caused the poor free throw shooting, they probably didn’t hurt the Clippers’ cause.
