It has been a wild ride for the Philadelphia 76ers this season, as they continue to prove they are a top team in the Eastern Conference. Despite some ups and downs this year, they have always found a way to bounce back and currently sit among the leaders in the East. However, the organization did have to deal with an unfortunate situation that happened at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles’ Carmelo Anthony got into an altercation with a couple of fans in Philadelphia about midway through the fourth quarter, before the fans were ejected. With 7:01 left to play in the game, Anthony walked right up to the fans to address them before being backed away by a referee to ensure the situation didn’t escalate.
According to various reports one of the fans had kept calling Anthony “boy” and used slogans like “keep shooting boy” or “get in that corner boy”. Anthony suggested there were two groups of fans calling him “boy” and he believed that those fans had indeed crossed a line.
“It is what it is,” Anthony said via CBSSports.com. “Some things was said, unacceptable. I’m cool with fans heckling, fans talking trash, cheering for their team, or the other team. I’m all for that, but when you cross certain lines, as a man that’s what you’re gonna see, that’s what you gonna get. I’m sure the people that’s in charge will take care of it…My job is done when it comes to this.”
When asked how he would like to see the fans punished, he quickly suggested that wasn’t his role.
“That’s not up to me,” Anthony responded. “I’m not in control of that. Only thing I that I can do is — sometimes you play through it, you try to play through certain things, you play through the heckle, but that’s all fun and games. I’ve been doing that for 19-20 years. Especially coming here, it’s been a great place to come and play and I know how the fans are here.
“But there’s just certain things you don’t bring to any type of sporting event, just certain things you don’t say to anybody. If I was outside, I bumped into you, you said those things to me, then it would be a totally different story. But again, It’s out of my hands now. So however they want to play it, they will play it.”
The 76ers and Wells Fargo Center took matters into their own hands and made the decision to ban one of the fans for life from attending games. According to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the fan that was banned has been identified as Mike Murphy following an investigation. Murphy had been warned previously and had been disciplined for violating fan conduct policies. He was not a current season ticket holder. Hopefully, this is an isolated incident and one that we do not see again as it has no place anywhere.
