While the Thunder advanced to the NBA Western Conference Finals, the team's "watch parties in Thunder Alley are on the verge of elimination,” according to John Rohde of the OKLAHOMAN. At least “eight people were wounded by gunfire” after the Thunder's series-clinching win over the Lakers in Game Five of the Western Conference Semifinals Monday night. Shots were fired “about three blocks east of a Thunder Alley watch party,” between Chesapeake Arena and the Cox Convention Center. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said, “This ever-growing game night crowd that gathers on the street outside the building, that can't continue. There are too many public safety concerns.” Rohde notes Thunder Alley “originally was an occasional pregame party that included interactive games, concessions, and merchandise.” It began “three hours before tipoff and would shut down once the game started.” During this year's playoffs, a watch party “was added and fans were invited to bring chairs and blankets to Thunder Alley to view the game on a new video display board." Crowds “initially consisted of 2,000-3,000 people watching the game outside the arena, but swelled to an estimated 6,000-7,000 people on Monday night to watch the Thunder eliminate the Lakers.” City officials met yesterday and “agreed to discontinue the watch parties in their current form.” Cornett said that there “are several potential alternatives, including limiting the size of the crowd.” Another possibility would be “to move the watch party into the arena across the street at the Cox Center, where the Thunder potentially could have two sellouts for the same game.” Cornett said that city officials and the Thunder “have yet to discuss possible alternatives” (OKLAHOMAN, 5/23).
TRANSCENDING THEIR MARKET? The Thunder will make their second consecutive appearance in the Western Conference Finals when they take on the Spurs on Sunday, and ESPN's Tony Kornheiser asked whether the teams feels "like a small market team," or does their appeal with F Kevin Durant and G Russell Westbrook “transcend the size of their city?” ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said, “People know who they are because you have to know what people look like, and in pro football when you’re in a small market, you’re in a small market. But in pro basketball, people have seen Kevin Durant since his days at the University of Texas, they know what he looks like.” Kornheiser said Oklahoma City “is a small market team” and “though they have attractive players, they’re very small market now." Kornheiser: "They’re in a football state. If they win, then they can become the Packers and they can do it for years. But at the moment, the NBA is missing the great, glamorous team -- the Lakers -- and getting instead a team that may be glamorous” (“PTI,” ESPN, 5/22).
