Charles Barkley, Shaq react to 76ers fans slamming Lakers’ Carmelo Anthony: ‘It won’t stop me’

Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony has heard enough from a few 76ers fans at the Wells Fargo Center.

During the fourth inning of Thursday night’s game between Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Anthony had a verbal spat with several Sixers fans. After the game stopped, the 37-year-old headed straight for the touchline and faced the fans standing behind the side benches.

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Officials stepped forward before Anthony, and security officers approached the fans to de-escalate the situation. Anthony also spoke to another fan standing near the corner of the pitch.

Anthony told reporters after the Lakers’ 105-87 loss that he heard fans calling him “the boy” and noted many groups of people made inappropriate comments. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported One fan shouted “go into the corner, boy” and “keep shooting, boy.”

“Some things have been said. [It’s] unacceptable, ” Anthony said. “I’m great with the raving fans, the fans talking rubbish, cheering for their team, booing the other team. I’m all for it. But when you cross certain boundaries , as a man, you just have to – that’s what you’ll do to see. That’s what you’ll get, as you saw there.”

On the “NBA on TNT” postgame, Ernie Johnson asked a panel of Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith for their thoughts on the situation and how they would respond. Barkley suggested Anthony overreacted because “you can’t be skinny in sports.”

“I will not be sad [if] someone called me boy,” Barkley said. Come on, buddy. Stop stumbling. Look, I believe – that, to me, is no big deal, some people call me a boy. “

Smith believes Anthony shouldn’t have accepted the disgust and claims he has no problem with unruly fans being dismissed by security guards. O’Neal disagreed with Smith, saying that only someone “soft” would call down a fan.

“When you’re warriors like me and Chuck, it doesn’t bother you. …When you’re warriors like us, it won’t stop me,” O’Neal said. “Let me tell you something, brother. Playing in Texas, playing in the SEC, I’ve heard it all. That’s not true. That won’t stop me.”

A 76ers spokesman told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that a fan has been kicked from the game and any additional discipline will be imposed by the Wells Fargo Center. When asked if he’d been notified of any possible suspensions for the fans involved, Anthony said the next steps were “out of my hands.”

“It’s not up to me. I have no control over that,” Anthony said. “The only thing I can do is – sometimes you play through it. You try to play through some things. You play through the speakers, but it’s all fun and games. I’ve been doing it for 19, 20 years, especially coming here, it’s a great place to come and play.Fans, I know what fans are like here.

“But there are just some things you don’t bring to any kind of sporting event. There are just some things you don’t tell anybody. If I was outside and I bumped into you, and you said things that for me, it would be a completely different story.”