For being villains, Warriors sure are loved on road

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On Sunday, after watching the Warriors rout the hometown Orlando Magic, a crowd of approximately 150 gathered behind a roped-off area reserved for Golden State’s postgame news conference.

Getting within feet of the NBA’s best team came with some risk for those blue-and-yellow-clad fans. While they waited, pens and Warriors gear in hand, a severe thunderstorm approached. In a couple hours, a tornado would touch down only miles away.

“Mom, please, let me see Steph!” one such die-hard, no older than 7 or 8, pleaded to his mother. “We can go after that.”

This is reality for a club widely labeled in the offseason as the NBA’s newest “villains.” Little more than halfway through its first season with Kevin Durant, Golden State maintains a rock-star status not seen since Michael Jordan’s Bulls or Magic Johnson’s “Showtime” Lakers.

Seldom does the vitriol that populates Twitter and Instagram make its way to Warriors road games. Golden State still plays in front of capacity crowds, feels at home in opponents’ arenas and sells more merchandise than any other team.

“When we went to Sacramento a couple weeks ago, that felt like a home game,” Shaun Livingston said. Kings players “have got to be pissed about that. That’s got to suck.”

The animus toward the Warriors reached a crescendo six months ago when Durant rocked the NBA by leaving Oklahoma City to sign with Golden State. Much as they did when LeBron James left the Cavs and signed with the Heat in 2010, TV personalities and sports-radio hosts seized on the opportunity to ordain the Warriors as Public Enemy No. 1.

Thunder fans, feeling scorned by the player they had cheered for eight seasons, burned Durant’s jersey and wrote “coward” on the “For Sale” sign outside his house. Whenever Durant talked about being happy with his new team, many perceived it as a slight at his former team.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, center, with Shaun Livingston (34), argues a call with an official in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2017. The Warriors won 113-103. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) less Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, center, with Shaun Livingston (34), argues a call with an official in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Hornets in Charlotte, N.C., ... more Photo: Chuck Burton, Associated Press Photo: Chuck Burton, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close For being villains, Warriors sure are loved on road 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

In late September, after Durant and Curry posed for a picture at the Warriors’ annual media day, a popular meme surfaced online in which the back of the players’ jerseys read, “We blew a 3-1 lead.” A month later, Bleacher Report released a cartoon musical mocking Golden State’s new “villain” title.

The idea of suddenly being the bad guys after two seasons as the league’s darlings was a source of comedy relief to those inside the Warriors’ organization.

During training camp, head coach Steve Kerr distributed T-shirts to his players that read “Super Villains” near the team logo. In mid-November, when Curry hosted a party for his teammates on an off day, he made it super-villain themed. It featured giant silver balloons spelling out their new moniker and featured a face-painting stand.

“These days, it’s fun to, I guess, create controversy or hate someone,” Durant said. “We go into these arenas, and everybody’s waiting for us to come. Everybody says they’re going to boo. But once they see us, they enjoy the camaraderie we have as a team. They have no choice but to.”

For a team touted as villains, the Warriors have enjoyed quite warm welcomes from opposing crowds. Their 99.5-percent road attendance rate is nearly two full points better than any other team. Outside of the occasional boos for Durant in pregame introductions, the response has largely been positive.

Several players estimated that they get just as many cheers as they did last year when they won an NBA-record 73 regular-season games. In mid-November, when Golden State pulled up to the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee at 2:30 a.m., several hundred fans were there, waiting, in 20-degree weather. In recent games in Miami and Orlando, the applause for the visiting team rivaled that for the home club.

“Everything we see on the road, it’s hard to really fathom,” rookie guard Patrick McCaw said. “I don’t know if anyone else in the NBA really experiences that. Golden State is just different.”

Sunday afternoon in Orlando, after finishing his postgame presser, Durant stopped to sign a program for the young fan who had pleaded with his mom to wait. Minutes later, Curry took off his headphones and autographed a No. 30 jersey for the boy.

“This is the best day of my life!” he yelled.

His mom, her eyes welling up with tears, smiled as she gave him a hug.

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron

Saturday’s game

Who: Clippers (30-17) at Warriors (39-7)

Where: Oracle Arena

When: 5:30 p.m.

TV/Radio: Channel: 7 Channel: 10/95.7