Thunder fans show off college atmosphere vibe

By Matt Tait     May 11, 2016

Remember those times during the past few years when KU basketball coach Bill Self was asked about jumping to the NBA and responded with something about the situation in Oklahoma City, with their beloved Thunder, being as close as there is to a college atmosphere in the NBA?

Well, the Thunder fans were at it again on Tuesday night. And after a road game, no less.

Playing Game 5 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Spurs in San Antonio, the Thunder gritted out a 95-91 victory to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series. All-world point guard Russell Westbrook went off for 35 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists and fellow member of the all-world squad — and former Longhorn — Kevin Durant touched the Spurs for 23, 6 and 5.

The come-from-behind triumph was a huge victory and put the Thunder in position to close out the series at home on Thursday night.

But it was when the Thunder returned home, after the short flight from San Antonio to OKC, where the Thunder fans started showing off their college spirit. Hundreds of energized Oklahoma City fans showed up to greet the team at the airport and several members of the Thunder roster documented the scene on social media.

This kind of thing is all but unheard of in the NBA and it happens every year in college, particularly in March after teams make good or deep runs in the NCAA Tournament.

To see it happen at the NBA level was incredible and merely added credence to Self’s claim about OKC being as close to a college environment as there is in the league.

Cool stuff.

Oooooooooo it’s LIT OKC fans second to none, I said second to NONE. The love real as it get #ThunderUp ????????

A video posted by Anthony Morrow (@yungfresh) on

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.