Nuggets star Nikola Jokic shoved Suns owner Mat Ishbia, and commentators are taking the player's side

• Nuggets star Nikola Jokic made contact with Suns owner Mat Ishbia during Sunday night's game.
• Jokic received a technical foul after the exchange, a call he pushed back against after the game.

A tense moment at the end of the first half of Sunday night's playoff game between the Nuggets and Suns ended with a technical foul for Denver superstar Nikola Jokic.

With just over two minutes remaining in the half, Suns forward Josh Okogie dove into the front row of seats for a loose ball but was unable to save it.

The ball ended up in the hands of Suns owner Mat Ishbia. As Ishbia's attention was on the Suns player on the ground, Jokic came up and grabbed at the ball in his hands. Ishbia resisted, and the ball went further into the crowd. As Jokic continued to call for the ball, he made contact with Ishbia, who fell backward.

You can see Ishbia as the man in the green jacket below.

It's worth noting that Jokic often plays quickly from out of bounds when the opportunity arises for a man advantage on the other end. With Okogie still tangled up in the seats, Jokic was pressing for the ball to set up his team for a five-on-four.

The interaction ended in a technical foul for Jokic, and Ishbia was not punished for his involvement in the scene.

After the game, Jokic and his coach Michael Malone expressed frustration with the technical foul call.

"I think it's crazy that Nikola got a technical foul in that situation," Malone said. "He is going to get the ball, and some fan is holding on to the ball like he wants to be a part of the game. Just give the ball up, man."

"His hands [were] on me," Jokic said. "So [the NBA] is not going to protect me? They're going to protect the fan? Not me as a person; I'm talking about as a player."

The "Insider the NBA" crew on TNT also sided with Jokic.

"If it was any other fan in the world, they wouldn't have given him a technical," said former player Kenny Smith.

"If that had been a regular fan, he would have got tossed," Charles Barkley agreed.

While some reporters brought up the potential for a fine or suspension from the league towards Jokic during his post-game press conference, on Monday morning, Ishbia wrote on Twitter that he did not wish to see any further punishment given to Jokic.

"Great win for the Suns last night in an amazing series so far!" Ishbia wrote. "That should be and is the only story. Suspending or fining anyone over last night's incident would not be right. I have a lot of respect for Jokic and don't want to see anything like that. Excited for game 5! Go Suns!"