The “NBA on TNT” crew likes to joke around and mess with each other. It’s part of the show’s appeal. But on Tuesday night, that good-natured ribbing got a liiiiittle too real.
Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, as they always do, were bantering at Quicken Loans Arena after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ matchup with the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. And Shaq, as he likes to do, reminded Barkley that he can’t talk about championship teams because he’s only been to one NBA Finals.
But Barkley didn’t take the jab lying down, and for about a minute, their back-and-forth turned pretty sour.
We understand that trolling one another is part of their shtick, but this seemed a bit too personal, even by Shaq and Chuck’s standards.
At one point host Ernie Johnson tries to calm everything down — “Why did that get so personal when we’re talking about Game 5?” — but the two got back right into it, with Shaq threatening to “punch (Barkley) right in your face” and Barkley saying he’s going to “throw one of these chicken wings at your fat ass.”
Their beef didn’t appear to last long, though, as everyone calmed down once they got food in their bellies.
The Celtics weren’t as chummy with the Cavs, though, suffering a 112-99 loss to fall into a 3-1 series deficit.
Thumbnail photo via Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports Images
