NBA Finals broadcast cut to hot mics from Minnesota newsdesk

NBA fans in Minnesota witnessed a bizarre moment during Game 3 of the Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs when the broadcast briefly went dark.

As the game returned from commercial with less than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, fans watching on ABC’s Minnesota affiliate, KSTP, saw a replay of Knicks center Mitchell Robinson being pushed into Victor Wembanyama. But before the replay ended, the screen went dark, and the audio cut to two people talking about fake flowers.

here’s the video… pic.twitter.com/elwUIBLyEj

— Zach Halverson (@ZachHalverson) June 9, 2026

“Have you seen that TCL is using your Amazon baskets of fake flowers? They have like eight of them, and they put them out there during shots, and you can’t tell.”

For reference, Amazon does sell some pretty real-looking fake flowers. Also, for reference, TCL is KSTP’s afternoon weekday show, Twin Cities Live, and they do have some great flower baskets, which we now know are fake. But if it wasn’t Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, or Tim Legler talking about fake flowers, why are NBA fans hearing it during the Finals?

The screen stayed dark for nearly a minute before returning just in time for another commercial break. Fans missed a live play between Karl-Anthony Towns and Victor Wembanyama, which was now being challenged by the Spurs, but they were quickly brought up to speed with a replay.

Chris Long of KSTP said he was not in the studio during the blunder, but guessed the automation system kicked in at 10 p.m. The screen went dark at exactly 10 p.m. CT, when the 10 o’clock news typically begins on the ABC affiliate. And those voices talking about fake flowers likely came from the KSTP studio.