Knicks in the NBA Finals is a 'bucket list thing' for broadcaster Mike Breen
Mike Breen works a game between the Knicks and Indiana Pacers at Madison Square Garden during the 2023-24 season. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Longtime Knicks voice Mike Breen calling the Knicks-Spurs NBA Finals on ABC is a little like Gary Cohen announcing the Mets or Michael Kay the Yankees in the World Series.
It’s nirvana for New York fans because they get to hear a beloved hometown announcer in their beloved hometown team’s biggest games.
It might be less so for fans of the Spurs, who will accuse Breen of pro-Knicks bias even if he shows zero sign of it.
Breen, who grew up a Knicks fan in Yonkers, admits being behind the mic as the Knicks go for their first title since 1973 is extra special.
But anyone who thinks Breen won’t be anything but professional during the Finals hasn’t been listening over the years.
“I’ve done a lot of Knick games on national TV for years,” Breen said on Tuesday during an ABC/ESPN Zoom call on the eve of Wednesday’s Finals opener. “I was fortunate when I first started to watch Marv Albert and the way he handled it . . . It’s your job. It’s your profession. There’s so much going on that you don’t have time to think the other way. I’d like to think that I’ll always call it down the middle.
“The funny thing is every year, even when the Knicks are not in it, if it’s the Celtics-Lakers, Lakers fans think we’re rooting for the Celtics, and the Celtics fans think we’re rooting for the Lakers. So, it’s an annual tradition, and I actually think it’s a great tradition because it means the fans care so much and they’re so passionate.”
Breen, 65, will be calling his record 21st NBA Finals along with analysts Richard Jefferson and Tim Legler.
Jefferson, the former Nets star, said: “People are always going to complain, but I’ve watched him year after year do that, and I’ve learned from him how to call the game straight down the middle.”
None of Breen’s previous Finals on TV involved the Knicks, who last appeared in the round in 1999, when they lost to the Spurs in five games. Breen called the 1994 Finals, which the Knicks lost to Houston in seven games, on the radio.
What does this series mean to him?
“Kind of a bucket list thing,” he said. “I mean, 21 Finals is impossible to comprehend for me. I always thought it would be pretty cool to have the Knicks in one. So, it’s a bucket list, and to see the growth of the team the last couple of years and to see what this team has done for the fan base in New York — I’ve lived in New York my whole life — it’s really energized the city like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
And if the Knicks win it all?
“I’m not thinking about it yet,” he said. “I do know what it would mean to the city and to the fans of the city. It might be one of the great sports moments in the history of New York sports if they win because of what the fan base has gone through and how loyal they’ve been to the team. As for my emotions, it’s hard to predict that.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
