DENVER — The Denver Nuggets held a Fan Flyaway contest, giving four randomly chosen fans a chance to win a trip to Game 7 in Oklahoma City.
Four fans were randomly chosen to participate in a Pop-A-Shot competition at Denver's Union Station on Saturday morning.
Each competitor brought a carry-on bag in case they won the contest, since they’d immediately have to hop on the A-Line straight to Denver International Airport to fly to Oklahoma City for Game 7.
“This is just the coolest weekend I could possibly think of,” said Matt Lawrence, one of Saturday’s competitors. “I cannot believe this is happening to begin with.”
Each fan had the chance to randomly enter to be a part of the contest at Thursday’s home game (Game 6) against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"We've got kind of a randomizer that we use on the back end," said Ron Chase, vice president of marketing for the Denver Nuggets. "We reach out to them. Kind of give them a deadline to check back in so we can confirm with them. If we don't get someone, we try a couple of times."
“I found out yesterday at about 1:30 p.m.,” said Lindsay Hand, another competitor.
These Nuggets superfans took it seriously – both Hand and Lawrence told Denver7 they practiced before the big moment.
"We went to the bars last night. We had a good Pop-A-Shot practice for a while,” laughed Lawrence.
“I went to 1Up last night and was practicing, but not very good, so I'm just going to give it my best shot,” said Hand.
The competition was tough, but ultimately, Denver resident Kate Westendorf was a shot above the rest. She won a round-trip flight for two, two tickets to the game in Oklahoma City, and a one-night hotel stay.
Westendorf’s friends and family cheered her on as she prepared to embark on the whirlwind adventure of a lifetime.
“My husband has to watch the kids, so I'm bringing a girlfriend and girls' night out in OKC!” she said.
Less than an hour later, that girls’ weekend officially kicked off when they hopped on the RTD A-Line – ready to rock their Denver Nuggets spirit in Oklahoma City.
“No one really knew what was going to happen going into the playoffs, and they've been playing really well. I think everyone kind of didn't really think that we could come out and compete. And they've been doing awesome,” Westendorf said, “Game seven, it's huge.”
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