OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Indiana Pacers waited 25 years to get back to the NBA Finals. And then they waited a few more hours to actually get to the NBA Finals.
The Pacers’ travel plans to the NBA Finals were impacted Tuesday by severe weather. The team’s charter was first diverted to Tulsa, Oklahoma — and then, after refueling there, the plane took a scenic route around another band of weather before finally landing in Oklahoma City about 3 1/2 hours behind schedule.
It was sunny when the team arrived around 7 p.m. local time. That wasn’t the case an hour or so earlier. Forecasters had issued a tornado warning, flood watch and severe thunderstorm watch for Oklahoma City and much of the surrounding areas on Tuesday afternoon, all while the Pacers’ charter flight out of Indianapolis was in the air.
The flight was diverted and Oklahoma City’s airport arrivals and departures were interrupted by heavy rain and wind. Delays were expected to impact other flights coming into Oklahoma City for much of the evening.
The Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder are scheduled to appear at the NBA Finals media day on Wednesday at the arena that will host Game 1 of the title series on Thursday night. It’s the first finals appearance for the Pacers since 2000 and the first for the Thunder since 2012.
“You spend so much time thinking about getting there, but it’s like, you’re here now,” Pacers center Myles Turner said before the team left Indianapolis. “You didn’t really spend a lot of time thinking about, ‘OK, when I’m here, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that.’ It’s like, ‘Let’s just get there.’ So now, that milestone has been achieved. It’s about doing something with the opportunity.”
There was at least one tornado spotted in Norman, Oklahoma, near the University of Oklahoma campus, on Tuesday afternoon when the Pacers were waiting things out in Tulsa. It was not immediately known if the tornado touched down or caused any damage.
Norman is about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. Tulsa is about 120 miles northeast of Oklahoma City.
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