Alright, so picture this: it’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The series is tied 1-1 between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, and the action has shifted to Indianapolis for the first time in a championship series in 25 years. The atmosphere in Gainbridge Fieldhouse is absolutely electric. But for millions of fans watching at home, something else was stealing the show.

A bizarre, distracting, and almost hypnotic flashing light that had everyone on social media asking the same question, “Wait… is my TV broken?”

As the first half unfolded, with the Pacers and Thunder locked in a close battle (Indy took a 64-60 lead into halftime), TV viewers started noticing it. A constant, rhythmic, and incredibly bright flash popping off every few seconds, disrupting the broadcast. Was it a TV glitch? A problem with the arena’s lighting? No one was quite sure, but it was impossible to ignore.

Then, Kevin O’Connor, host of “The Kevin O’Connor Show” for The Ringer, hopped on X and identified the culprit, confirming that everyone at home wasn’t, in fact, losing their minds. “Anyone else noticing their TV flashing during this broadcast? Photographer strobe light is constantly going off. I notice it here and there during most games but it’s happening every few seconds during Game 3”

That was it. KOC confirmed it was a photographer’s strobe light, positioned somewhere near the court, that was just relentlessly firing, creating a bizarre visual effect for the millions watching on ESPN/ABC. Once O’Connor pointed it out, the floodgates opened, and fans started chiming in with their own takes on the strange visual. And one fan, in a moment of pure genius, gave the distracting phenomenon a perfect, and slightly ominous, new nickname: “Looks like an indoor Thunderstorm”

It might seem like a small thing, but in a game of this magnitude, every detail matters, not just on the court but for the millions watching at home. That constant flashing was taking people out of the game, a bizarre technical glitch that became its own subplot on a night that was supposed to be all about the incredible basketball being played. Instead of just focusing on SGA’s silky moves or Haliburton’s slick passes, a good chunk of the NBA community spent the first half trying to figure out why their screen was having a rave all by itself. And you just know fans, as they always do, had plenty to say about the bizarre viewing experience.

“Let there be light!” (said no one): Fans roast ESPN’s glitchy game 3

Some fans were immediately concerned about how such a constant, bright flash must have felt in the arena, with one fan noting the intensity of the strobe: “One of them felt like a flashbang at the arena, not going to lie.” A flashbang is a pretty intense description, and you can’t help but wonder how this affects the players. In fact, elite athletes actually train to deal with this kind of distraction.

There are famous stories and videos of legends like Michael Jordan and Kawhi Leonard doing strobe light training, where they’d practice in a gym with flashing lights specifically designed to improve their reaction time and ability to focus through visual chaos. The fact that NBA players have to prepare for this just shows how distracting those courtside camera flashes can be, and it makes you wonder if a strobe going off every few seconds could genuinely impact a player’s performance in the biggest moments of their career.

Of course, when something goes wrong with a broadcast, you know who’s going to catch some blame, whether it’s their fault or not: the announcers. The comments section was quickly filled with fans venting their frustration at the entire ESPN presentation, with Doris Burke being a particular target: “ESPN sucks. Fire Doris. Fire Richard.”

This reaction, while maybe not directly related to the strobe light, taps into the ongoing drama surrounding ESPN’s lead broadcast booth. As we’ve seen, Doris Burke has been under intense fire recently for some of her on-air comments, particularly those about SGA. And with reports from The Athletic suggesting her spot on the A-team isn’t guaranteed for next season, every little perceived flaw in the broadcast, even a technical one like this, just adds more fuel to the fire for fans who are already critical of her and the overall chemistry of the booth.

Then there were the fans who just decided to have fun with the whole bizarre situation, dropping some hilarious jokes to lighten the mood. One fan, playing on the “lightning” theme of the “indoor Thunderstorm” nickname, quipped: “That’s just lightning McQueen don’t worry.” You can just picture it, right? Lightning McQueen hitting his “Kachow!” pose over and over again from the sidelines. It’s that classic fan coping mechanism – when something is so ridiculous and distracting, you might as well turn it into a joke.

But at the end of the day, for most viewers, the flashing was just plain irritating. It was a distraction that took away from the viewing experience of a massive, high-stakes basketball game. As one fan put it, summarizing the feelings of many: “Mad annoying and noticing it a lot reflecting off the court. Like it at a concert but not watching a game”

And that’s the bottom line, right? A strobe light might add to the energy and atmosphere of a concert, but when you’re trying to focus on the intricate details of an NBA Finals game – the cuts, the passes, the defensive rotations – a constant, bright flash is just mad annoying. It was a strange, unexpected, and frankly, pretty amateur production issue to see on the biggest stage, and it had the whole NBA community talking about something other than the actual basketball.