Pacers Delayed in Their Return to NBA Finals

Oklahoma City – After a 25-year wait, the Indiana Pacers are finally back in the NBA Finals.

Unfortunately, they faced further delays that made their journey even longer.

On Tuesday, inclement weather disrupted the team’s travel plans to the Finals.

The charter flight initially had to reroute to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for refueling. After that, the plane took a longer path around more weather conditions before landing in Oklahoma City roughly three and a half hours behind schedule.

When they touched down around 7 PM local time, the weather had cleared. However, just an hour earlier, tornado warnings, flood advisories, and severe thunderstorm watches had been issued for Oklahoma City and the neighboring areas.

The adverse weather affected both arrivals and departures at the Oklahoma City airport, and delays were expected to linger into the evening, impacting other flights.

On Wednesday, the Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder are both set to participate in NBA Finals Media Day at the arena, where Game 1 of the championship series will take place the following night.

This marks the Pacers’ first trip to the Finals since 2000, while it’s the Thunder’s first since 2012.

“You spend so much time thinking about getting there, but that’s like being here now,” said Pacers Center Miles Turner before their departure from Indianapolis. “You really didn’t spend a lot of time. It’s like, ‘OK, when I’m here, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it.’ So that milestone has been achieved.”

On a related note, a tornado was reported in Norman, Oklahoma, near the University of Oklahoma campus on Tuesday afternoon.

It’s still unclear whether it touched down or caused any damage.

Norman sits about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City, while Tulsa is roughly 120 miles to the northeast.