The Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Denver Nuggets 129-126 in an NBA Game of the Year contender on Monday night at Paycom Center. It was a thrilling win for the Thunder, but the victory did feature a flagrant foul from Oklahoma City that led to shoddy commentary from the team’s television broadcast with just over a minute remaining.
Oklahoma City’s Lu Dort elbowed Denver superstar Nikola Jokić in the face while Jokić set a screen on him with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter.
Thunder color commentator Michael Cage of FanDuel Sports Network said, “Are you kidding me?! He didn’t even get hit in the face!”
“Take a look at this, folks,” Cage continued. “I gotta show it to you. Take a look at this. He gets around on the screen.”
That was followed by a period of silence after the replays showed Jokić getting hit in the face.
This is hilarious.
OKC announcer: “Are you kidding me… He didn’t even get hit in the face! Take a look at this folks, I gotta show it to ya.”
**replay shows Dort elbowing Jokic in the face**
— silence — pic.twitter.com/vXZQHIqZYB
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) March 10, 2026
The national broadcast on Peacock, on the other hand, called the flagrant foul objectively.
“Jokić goes down. He took a shot to the head,” Eagle, who was excellent on the play-by-play call of the game for NBC Sports, said as the play happened.
“He gets popped there,” NBC Sports analyst Robbie Hummel said after a replay.
“You can clearly see he gets popped in the face,” NBC Sports analyst Austin Rivers said after another replay. “So, I don’t exactly know what they’re booing at.”
For the 2nd time in 10 days, Lu Dort commits a flagrant foul on the former MVP. pic.twitter.com/3wRRm0I1gd
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) March 10, 2026
The incident comes after Dort tripped Jokić and was ejected from the Thunder-Nuggets game on Feb. 27.
Lu Dort was ejected after appearing to trip Nikola Jokic on this play.
Nikola Jokic and Jaylin Williams both received technical fouls. pic.twitter.com/ZFyNHpigsM
— ESPN (@espn) February 28, 2026
Most fans appreciate at least a little bit of homerism on a local broadcast, but Cage’s commentary was an example of going too far beyond that and not telling the truth about what actually happened.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.