Mike Breen is currently the dean of TV announcers for the NBA Finals, and he’s about to enter rarefied airspace.
The ABC/ESPN broadcaster will reach another milestone Monday night in Game 5 of the Denver-Miami series. It will be Breen’s 100th NBA Finals broadcast, making him only the third basketball host on radio or television to reach that mark. He will be the sixth US play-by-play voice to eclipse the mark, including the World Series and the Stanley Cup Final.
Breen missed the first two games of last year’s series due to COVID, preventing him from reaching the century mark.
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Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen before Game One of the 2023 NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets on June 1, 2023 at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
«I knew how many years he had made the finals, but I never put him in a specific number of games,» said Breen, who is calling his 18th championship series. «I would never have said 100. For some reason, hearing that number surprised me, and it’s not something that even in my wildest dreams I thought I could do.»
«I take it as an honor to reach that mark that I have been able to do so many.»
Joe Buck made 135 World Series games for Fox, and Mike «Doc» Emrick was on the mic for 110 Stanley Cup Finals contests on ESPN, Versus, NBC and NBCSN.
Including radio, Breen is the third to reach 100 NBA Finals games, joining legendary Lakers voice Chick Hearn (121) and Boston’s Johnny Most (103). In baseball, Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully had 126 World Series games on radio and television.
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Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen comment during the game between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat during Game Four of the 2023 NBA Finals on June 9, 2023 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. (Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images)
The ultimate test of longevity for an announcer is reaching the century mark in baseball, hockey, or basketball.
This is the 21st consecutive NBA Finals for ABC/ESPN. Before ABC/ESPN took over the broadcast rights, The Finals ran for 12 seasons on NBC (1991-2002) and 17 on CBS (1974-90). Prior to Breen’s run, CBS’s Dick Stockton and NBC’s Marv Albert shared the television record with nine finals.
Breen’s rise to prominence, along with his signature «Bang!» called when a player knocks down a 3-pointer—started in 1991 when he was hired as a radio host for the New York Knicks before moving to television seven years later. He did a few games for NBC over five seasons, then joined ESPN in 2003.
Breen was under contract with NBC for another year after it lost the rights to the NBA. She joined ESPN in 2003 and became the leading voice of the NBA in 2006 after Mike Tirico switched to «Monday Night Football.»
«I just cold called (ESPN executive vice president Mark Shapiro). He asked me why I hadn’t called him sooner. And he hired me right away,» Breen said. «After NBC lost the NBA, I was pretty down because I wanted to do the NBA. When Mark hired me, I was able to do a whole slate of games and I was back.»
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New York Knicks television announcers Walt Frazier (L) and Mike Breen work on a game against the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden on October 21, 2022 in New York City. The Knicks defeated the Pistons 130-106. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Coincidentally, Breen’s first NBA Finals in 2006 was also the first appearance for the Miami Heat. It’s the seventh time Breen has called a championship series involving the Heat.
Breen called the 2006 finals with Hubie Brown, but the last 17 have been with Jeff Van Gundy by his side. Add in Mark Jackson, and it’s the 15th time the trio has worked together in the NBA Finals.
Before they came to ABC/ESPN, Breen had been in a relationship with Jackson and Van Gundy since their days with the Knicks.
«To start my NBA broadcast career with the team where Jeff was an assistant coach and Mark was a player, the foundation of friendship was built early,» Breen said. «Having that level of comfort in the air and knowing and trusting that your partners, no matter what you throw at them, are going to be able to cope and handle, makes my job so much easier.»
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ESPN analysts Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Breen look on during Game 2 of the 2022 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals on May 19, 2022 at FTX Arena in Miami, Florida. (David Dow/NBAE via Getty Images)
Your job has been harder this year. His and his family’s home on Long Island was completely destroyed by fire last October. Breen said that in addition to his personal loss, all of his charts, notes and statistics were destroyed. But he continues to receive support from family, friends and colleagues.
«Every time they find something» that survived the fire, Breen said, «you feel like you won the lottery because it was something you felt like you lost.»