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The Knicks are the toast of the sports world, with numerous athletes expressing their respect, admiration, and gratitude to the team. Among them is NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who even created, along with rapper Cory Gunz, a two-minute music video using AI to celebrate New York's historic triumph. It also showed Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns and ESPN commentator Mike Breen. Was the singer supposed to be Alicia Keys?
Legion Hoops: Mike Breen: "I feel so happy for the fans. I've been a fan since I was about seven years old. I've been a Knick broadcaster for more than half my life. So I've been around Knicks fans forever... For them to have a night like this is wonderful." (@WPIX)
One day, he walked into WFUV, the college’s radio station, and a fellow student named Michael Kay was holding court. Breen introduced himself to his colorful classmate. “He was like the Pied Piper,” Breen said. “He had eight or nine guys around him, and he introduced me to all his buddies. And now I went from having no friends to 10 friends. After that day, I felt comfortable. I credit him all the time because there is a good chance I wouldn’t have gone back the next day. He’s the one that saved me.” Kay is the longtime TV voice of the New York Yankees and an ESPN New York radio afternoon talk show host.
He has now worked with another Knick legend, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, for decades as his broadcast partner. Breen said the 81-year-old Frazier — known to today’s Knicks fans not only for his sartorial splendor but his signature slang, like “dishing and swishing” — is rejuvenated by Jalen Brunson and company. “I was worried he was going to retire because he was so sick of the bad play,” Breen said. “Now, I think he wants to keep going year after year.”
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One of them will even be in the broadcast booth. ESPN’s Mike Breen will be the play-by-play man for his record-extending 21st straight NBA Finals this year. And for the first time, the New York native will be calling the team he grew up rooting for in the championship round. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say there are emotions,” Breen acknowledged to NBC News this week. In addition to his work for ESPN, Breen has called Knicks games locally for over 30 years. He began as the team’s radio announcer in 1991, and after a brief stint as the lead play-by-play man later that decade, he took over the position for good in 2004.
In addition to his work for ESPN, Breen has called Knicks games locally for over 30 years. He began as the team’s radio announcer in 1991, and after a brief stint as the lead play-by-play man later that decade, he took over the position for good in 2004. “It’s not just that I was a Knick fan since I was a kid, but I’ve been broadcasting Knick games for over half my life,” Breen said. “So, you know, when you see a team have a chance to do something they haven’t done forever, there’s certainly emotions there.”
How has basketball media changed the most since you entered the business? Mike Breen: I think, first off, when we started broadcasting games, and I started broadcasting games, there was no internet. That’s the biggest change, because you went from, back in the day, when you go into a city to do a game, you would grab the local newspaper and scan it to see if you can get any kind of information. Now, before you go anywhere, before you leave your house, you can read articles and look at statistics on every player on every team for hours. So that’s the biggest change. The amount of information that’s available to you now is just incredible, to the point where you have to know when to stop researching for the game, because you can go on and on. Back in the day, so much of what you used on the air was [obtained] by talking directly to players, coaches, other broadcasters. That’s how you got the information. But now, it’s all out there for everyone to grab. So that’s the biggest change from when, from when I started.
Who would be on your Knicks Mount Rushmore? Mike Breen: It’s almost impossible to narrow it down, in terms of great players. Patrick Ewing and Clyde, I think, are up there. Bernard King was one of the great scorers in the history of the NBA, with the Knicks as well. I think just from the standpoint of leadership and great play, Willis Reed is up there. I do think Jalen Brunson, the way he’s been playing, is going to be in the conversation as one of the great Knicks of all-time. Mount Rushmore was only four, but there were just a lot of great players, but those are probably the ones that deserve to be at the top of the list.
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ESPN president of content Burke Magnus appeared on the Sports Media with Richard Dietsch podcast this week and was asked about why demoting Burke and replacing her with Legler was the right decision. “I think it was the right decision because we were still searching for the perfect combination,” said Magnus. “Again, we’re talking about an A-plus-plus human being in Doris Burke here… There was no coincidence that we extended her at the same time we were putting her with a new partner. “And we honestly believe that now with a little experience in the top team in a three-person arrangement, that the best manifestation of Doris’ work is actually alone with a play-by-play person. We have in our new arrangement, as was the case with the last one, a schedule of plenty of high-profile NBA games to go around. And so she’ll be calling big games, meaningful games in her new circumstance relative to the top team, which will be Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, and Tim Legler.
ABC/ESPN has demoted Hall of Fame broadcaster Doris Burke from its NBA Finals team and promoted network commentator Tim Legler to its No. 1 team, sources briefed on the decision told The Athletic on Thursday. Legler will pair with longtime lead play-by-player Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson for the network’s finals broadcasts. Jefferson recently agreed to a new contract with ESPN after working his first finals in June. Burke was on the finals team for two years, becoming the first woman in history to serve as an analyst for one of the traditional four major North American sports leagues championships (NBA, NFL, MLB and NHL).
Richard Jefferson has an agreement in place to return to ABC/ESPN, where he is expected to continue on NBA Finals broadcasts with Mike Breen, while Doris Burke’s spot on the network’s top team remains in question, sources briefed on the discussions said. Jefferson, 45, was elevated to the No. 1 team last season after previously being on the network’s No. 2 team. The official contract is not yet signed. ESPN declined to comment on Jefferson’s agreement.
The 2016 NBA Finals were an iconic series with massive interest from the U.S. audience. Game 7 drew 31 million viewers, making it the most-watched game since 1998. No NBA game over the last nine years has come close to touching it. Breen said he has thought about that game often this week because of all that was at stake. “There was so much going on because the road team won, because there was an upset, because there was history coming back from a 3-1 deficit,” Breen said. “It was so important for both teams. For Golden State, it was to cap off what was the greatest regular season in NBA history. For Cleveland, it was to pull off this upset and come back from 3-1 down and hand the city this championship that they’ve been waiting (on for) decades and decades. It meant so much to the teams and to the fan bases and the city. Just like this series. In this series, for both fan bases, the emotions are just off the chart. You can tell that by the sound in each arena.”