Charles Barkley rips Heat fans before the team's historic playoff loss to Cavaliers

Former NBA player-turned television star Charles Barkley is not a fan of the Miami Heat faithful Miami's beloved NBA franchise became the first th seed to advance from the play-in tournament to the NBA Playoffs Being the eighth seed for the postseason meant the Heat would meet the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS COMThe Heat came up short in the first two games of the first-round Eastern Conference series Before Match tipped off in Miami Saturday Barkley took a moment to take a jab at Heat fans That s not a tough atmosphere to play in Barkley declared during the pregame broadcast in reference to Kaseya Center the Heat's home arena That s not a tough setting NBA PLAYOFF ODDS TRACKER WHO WILL EMERGE FROM FIRST ROUND The Hall of Famer then mentioned how the Heat overcame the odds in the play-in tournament to make it to the playoffs Yeah but that s still not a hostile setting he added This isn't the first time Barkley has shared his distaste for Heat fans After LeBron James Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade joined forces in Miami for the - season Barkley suggested the Heat's fan base mostly consisted of fair-weather fans Barkley has also previously claimed Heat fans were among the worst in the NBA The Heat lost Contest - their worst playoff loss ever and the Cavs took a - series lead The Cavs took control with a - run early outrebounded Miami - and outscored the Heat - in the paint Our guys knew that was the key rebounding and winning the rebounding battle Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson disclosed We really executed defensively Evan Mobley scored points and Max Strus added for Cleveland Ty Jerome had points and assists in minutes Heat coach Erik Spoelstra acknowledged the on-court adversity his association has had to fight through over the past several weeks Look our guys really want this and it possibly looks like our guys don t Spoelstra announced But I know what our last six weeks have been like just to fight and scratch and claw to get into this Battle is scheduled for Monday The Associated Press contributed to this record Follow Fox News Digital s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter