Virtual Thunder fans ready for OKC’s first “home” playoff game in the bubble
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – On Saturday, the Oklahoma City Thunder takes on the Houston Rockets in game three of their first-round playoff series.
It will be the first “home game” for OKC, but that has new meaning in the NBA bubble in Orlando.
When the season restarted, the NBA started letting fans attend the game virtually as a new way to engage with the teams.
“When this was all set up we just embraced it. We thought it was a fantastic, unique, sort of once in a lifetime experience,” Thunder VP of Corporate Communications and Broadcasting told News 4. “Particularly for our season ticket members.”
Mahoney says it’s obviously not the same as thousands of Thunder fans packing into Chesapeake Energy Arena, but it does help provide some kind of home-court atmosphere.
“Thunder basketball is wherever you are. Whether you’re sitting in your living room as a virtual fan, or you’re back in the arena watching games,” Mahoney said. “That’s what Thunder basketball is all about.”
Mahoney says he hopes this is a once in a lifetime experience and fans are back in the arena next season, but right now everyone is truly enjoying the experience.
Even Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt was a virtual fan during the regular season.
“The players feel it, they feel the love. They look up there and see the fans there,” Mahoney said. “They also see their families, you saw early on Chris Paul look up and there he saw his son sitting in a virtual seat.”
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