Photos: Fans flock to downtown for NBA Finals

Thousands of basketball fans—most sporting blue and gold attire—flocked to downtown Indianapolis for Sunday night’s series-deciding NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

While some in the crowd had spent a large portion of their day traversing the city’s central business district, most began filing into restaurants and bars in the early evening hours. More than 12,000 people were expected to attend a Game 7 watch party at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Katie McClung, her husband and three kids, all of Yorktown, had tickets to attend Sunday’s watch party at Gainbridge.

As they waited in line to get in, McClung told IBJ that Sunday’s watch party was the first in-person Pacers experience she’d had in a long time.

But the family hadn’t missed a game this series.

“We love the Pacers, and we love sports history so we think we’re going to be part of a moment of sports history today,” she said.

The Pacers and Thunder were tied at three wins apiece in the best-of-seven series, and Sunday’s game in Oklahoma City marked the first time in nine years that the Finals has gone to seven games. A Thunder win would be the franchise’s first championship since 1979, when the team was known as the Seattle Supersonics.

The Pacers last won a title in 1973, albeit in the American Basketball Association.