Lu Dort's well-deserved ejection is the start of the Thunder's villain era

Tensions were already high between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, battling it out atop the Western Conference standings less than a year after waging a seven-game war of a playoff series. But those tensions boiled all the way over midway through the fourth quarter, when Thunder wing and known irritant Lu Dort sure appeared to intentionally trip Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.

Jokic got up understandably furious, getting right up into Dort's face before Thunder big man Jaylin Williams came to the defense of his teammate. Luckily, things deescalated before it turned into a full-on brawl, and by the time the dust settled, Dort had been ejected from the game while Jokic and Williams were given offsetting technical fouls.

The game itself turned out to be a barnburner, as OKC held on for an overtime victory despite the loss of Dort (and despite playing the extra session without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, playing on a minutes restriction as he returns from an ab injury). But Friday night was an inflection point for reasons that had nothing to do with what happened on the court. It could in hindsight turn out to be the inflection point at which the tide of fan sentiment shifted against the Thunder, and they go from Next Big Thing to the league's next great antagonist.

Refs were absolutely right to eject Lu Dort for trip of Nikola Jokic

You might look at that play and think that it's pretty clear cut. And yet, in the aftermath, the Thunder (and, it should be said, plenty of their fans and media members) somehow acted as though they were the ones who had been wronged in the whole exchange. Here's how head coach Mark Daigneault responded after the game:

To which the response can only be: ...okay? "Going out of your way to intentionally trip an opposing player without any sort of basketball pretense will result in an ejection" does not seem to be like a dangerous precedent to set, and I don't really understand why Daigneault thinks it is.

Sure, the contact was not the hardest you'll see in most NBA games; plenty of more forceful stuff results in only a flagrant 1 or even a common foul. But to pretend that the issue here is force itself is insulting to everyone's intelligence: People are objecting to the intentionality, to the blatancy with which Dort stopped, thought about it and then went out of his way to trip a player who was just trying to run back down the court.

That is both 1) unnecessary (how could it be otherwise?) and 2) excessive, because again, it's not like this was part of a basketball play that got out of hand. It pretty comfortably fits the definition of a flagrant 2, and that's before we even get to the idea that the NBA should take a hard line on attempts to harm opposing players.

What Dort did deserved an ejection no matter who it was, and no matter what the context was. But of course, this is far from Dort's first rodeo — he's got a history of ... let's just say questionable behavior on the court.

The officiating crew tossing Dort on Friday night felt a bit like a statement of intent, the league telling OKC: We're onto you, and this has to stop. And the condemnation we've seen in the aftermath suggests that fans around the league feel much the same.

The Thunder's honeymoon period atop the NBA has officially expired

That sound you hear is several Western Conference fan bases yelling in unison: "What took you so long?" The Thunder made some enemies during their climb to an NBA title last season, whether it was Alex Caruso's aggressive defense on Jokic in the Conference Semifinals or any of a number of examples of hard contact going uncalled. But those were easy to dismiss as the typical scars from seven-game playoff series, the sort of griping you expect from fans who suffered a bitter loss — and were now staring at potentially a full decade of OKC dominance.

After this latest incident, though, it feels like the backlash is right around the corner. In some sense it was inevitable, really. We see it across every sport: Even once-likable teams grow less so once the trophies start piling up. We like seeing greatness dethroned, and even more importantly, we like seeing something new.

But it should also be said that the Thunder are making it easier than it needs to be. It's not just that they play physically, bumping right up against and in some cases stretching the boundaries of the rulebook. Honestly, Dort's nonsense aside, I sort of respect it: It's on the referees to keep them in check, and it doesn't take anything away from their ferocious athleticism and smarts.

It's how they react when other teams (and fans) respond to that physicality that's the problem here. You can see it with Dort in the clip above, the way he throws his hands up in faux outrage before nonchalantly backing away from an incensed Jokic as if to say, "hey, I'm just a little guy, what's all the fuss about?" Say what you will about someone like Draymond Green — and please don't misunderstand: you do not, under any circumstances, gotta hand it to Draymond Green — but he consistently stands on business when his dirty play inevitably invites backlash.

But standing on business doesn't appear to be what the Thunder are about. It's not really in keeping with the aw-shucks Zoomer vibe they've been cultivating: the Capital One karaoke commercials, the group postgame interviews, the Neo in the Matrix fashion sense. They position themselves as just a bunch of humble, wholesome young guys committed to carrying the flame of ethical hooping in an unethical age.

To which I, and many others, say: Come on. The least you can do is say it with your chest. Because now that the scales have slid from everyone's eyes, the narrative is going to turn either way.