Thursday’s game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers had a heated encounter.
With seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony walked directly toward some fans a few rows in after a whistle to exchange words. Referees came in and stood in front of Anthony to prevent anything else from happening, and the fans eventually were ejected.
Here’s a video of the moment:
Melo got into it with this fan and he was removed from the game 👀 pic.twitter.com/V3vpPHBXmx
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 28, 2022
It wasn’t exactly clear right away what happened, but a report after the game from Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports revealed what the fans said to Anthony:
Sixers fan that was ejected for taunting Los Angeles Lakers star Carmelo Anthony kept calling him a “boy” and yelling “get in the corner boy” and “keeping shooting boy,” league sources tell @YahooSports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) January 28, 2022
A similar incident happened earlier in the season involving LeBron James and Indiana Pacers fans. James had referees eject two fans who had violated fan conduct policies, the NBA said in a statement. The fans did not face any other consequences. There’s no word yet on what, if anything, will happen to the Sixers fans.
