OAKLAND, Calif. _ Golden State Warriors fans elbowed for arm space along guardrails in downtown Oakland Thursday and later at the team's rally near Lake Merritt, screaming in adoration for their favorite players and chanting "MVP" for both Kevin Durant and Steph Curry, as buses filled with players and their posses took a victory lap.
Fans lined up as early as 4 a.m. for spaces near the Henry J. Kaiser auditorium, waiting for hours for the team's stars to take the stage.
Klay Thompson took the stage first, responding to earlier comments from team general manager Bob Myers. Myers shared a Thompson-being-Thompson moment. It was mid-season, Thompson was in a slump, so Myers decided to visit him at his Oakland home.
"He was sitting there (with his dog in his lap). He said, I wasn't focused but I'm good now. I'm locked back in. Next game watch out, I'm ready to go,' " Myers recalled. "As I'm walking to the front door he said, 'hey when do we play again?' "
Thompson reminded him he had a bad shooting night that game and respectfully asked Myers to think twice before paying him a home visit again.
After Thompson, Draymond Green took the stage. To which, Warriors TV broadcaster Bob Fitzgerald, "now we enter the most dangerous part of the day, an open mic for Draymond Green." Green didn't disappoint _ within minutes he dropped a word you can't say on TV.
"You won't get the speech out of me you got last time. I was in a different place," Green said, who told a TV reporter his plastic cup had water in it on Thursday.
The rally capped what could be the biggest sports party in Oakland's history. During the morning parade, Curry doused fans in a champagne shower as his float scooted along Broadway, jumping out of the parade bus as it turned onto Grand Avenue, where he greeted fans with high-fives and clutched a celebratory cigar in his mouth. Reserve guard Ian Clark followed, carrying the Larry O'Brien trophy.
Closer to Lake Merritt, Matt Barnes descended from his bus to mingle with fans and signed one woman's shirt who looked as if she might faint, though that might also have been the product of high temperatures and a strong overhead sun.
Meanwhile, Green took a jab at the Cleveland Cavaliers, donning a shirt that read, "Quickie," complete with the same "Q" emblazoned on the Quicken Loans Arena, home of the Cavs. It was an apparent swipe at the Cavs' team leader, LeBron James, who clowned the Warriors after losing their 3-1 series lead to the Cavs last year.
Crowds had formed early in the morning Thursday as the blue-and-gold-clad Dubs supporters lined the sidewalks in anticipation of the parade _ the second time in three years the Bay Area celebrated its team.
Patrons packed BART trains, with many departing at Lake Merritt station, where a chorus of fans chanted, "Warriors" _ the rallying cry of the day _ before heading to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater to watch players address their supporters. As of around 12:30 p.m., BART had recorded nearly 242,000 exits from their stations, roughly the same as in 2015, when the Dubs broke their decades-long drought and clinched the title for the first time in 40 years.
Several people at 20th Street and Broadway camped out early in the morning along the parade route, and by 7 a.m. all the spaces close to the street were taken. Others made the trek well before the sun rose. Rosie Montalvo left her Salinas home at 3 a.m., she said, to secure a spot on Lakeside Drive.
"We have to come support, show our love to them" Montalvo said. "Just the season _ from the last of the finals to this one _ it's been an amazing ride."
But Montalvo was not the furthest-flung fan to turn up at the parade. Corey Wong flew all the way from Hong Kong, braving a 16-hour flight, to celebrate with his team. The transportation planner bought his tickets a year ago, anticipating a Warriors title and researching when the last parade was and how quickly he thought the Warriors would beat the Cavs.
"Around-the-world trip for the Warriors baby!" Wong screamed from across the street of the Oakland Marriott. He held a sign that read: "Flew 10,300 miles. Go W's."
But it wasn't all fun and games for Warriors' fans. Patrick Craig, of Live 105 radio station, got the tough assignment of dressing as a Cleveland Cavaliers supporter at the victory parade.
"They wanted to see what happens...see what kind of reactions we get," said Craig, wearing a rust red Cavs T-shirt and headband.
On the BART ride in from the Embarcadero station, Craig said a passenger called him "Brace," while another just shook her head and said, "Damn!"
"I'm terrified of violence of course," he laughed. "My headband is stretchy, so if I get any wounds I can cover them up real nice."
The worst part? Craig is actually a Warriors fan.
And it wasn't easy for motorists trying to navigate around the parade route. With more than a million people expected to converge on Oakland, traffic restrictions caused detours and lengthy delays. Three Interstate 880 off-ramps to downtown Oakland, Oak Street, Jackson Street and Broadway closed at 7 a.m., and all vehicle traffic downtown was shut down at around 9 a.m. Motorists are allowed to leave the area but not re-enter until after the streets re-open.
At about 8:45 a.m. CHP Officer Sean Wilkenfeld said "all of 880 is gridlock" and that alternative routes motorists were taking "are going to be packed."
He said there would be significant traffic issues once the rally ends Thursday afternoon but that it was hoped all ramp closures would be reopened by 3 p.m., although that could change.
Unlike in 2015, Thursday's event follows three years of appearing in the NBA Finals _ all against the same opponent _ and with the knowledge that the Dubs will soon be leaving the place it has called home since 1971.
Two years ago, fans likened their team's rise to that of the city itself, which was beginning to shed its reputation as the crime-plagued and protest-studded stepchild of San Francisco to become the must-go destination featured in national and international media.
Team leader Curry waxed poetic about his days living in basketball obscurity, when he resided in an apartment that looks down on the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, where the parade ends. He reminisced about how it all started in Oakland, while his adorable daughter, Riley, wooed the crowd with inaudible coos.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf beamed from inside a fire-spewing snail car alongside MC Hammer, though that, at least, will remain the same this year. Jon Sarriugarte, the car's creator, drove the duo on Thursday, one of several times the mayor has rolled around town in his art piece.
For her part, the likeness was clear.
"You know this team is a lot like the city of Oakland," she said the rally. "They are not full of a lot of pomp. ... Just like Oakland, they are scrappy and believe in diversity, and we love them here in The Town."
If the first stirrings of the Warriors' dynasty germinated in Oakland, will it die here, as well? The Chase Center officially broke ground earlier this year, and barring any setbacks, is slated to open for the 2019-20 season. And, for several Dubs fans, it feels like it might be the last time to celebrate their team in their own city.
"I'm sad they're moving," said Oakland resident Krin Morelli. "I'm sad the next parade will be in San Francisco."
Others are just happy to soak in as many championship wins as they can before the big move. Antioch resident Marques Cheney, 27, compared the Warriors to another Oakland institution that will soon be leaving The Town.
"We're like the Raiders," Cheney said. "We're trying to get as many rings as possible before they move."
But thoughts of the team's imminent departure did not seem to be souring the sweetness of the celebration, nor damping the blaring of horns or thinning the throngs downtown and along the edges of Lake Merritt on Thursday. In fact, officials estimated this year's crowds would be bigger than ever.
And if the past two years are any indication, there may be more parades in Oakland's future yet.
