Mike Breen Says Knicks-Cavaliers Bias Is Not Hard
Mike Breen says calling the Knicks-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals without bias really is not hard. The announcer, a lifelong Knicks fan who handles New York playoff games for the network, said he simply locks in on the game and lets the action dictate the call.
Breen’s broadcast routine
“It really isn’t, and I’m not just saying that,” Breen said this week on The Michael Kay Show. He said he has done “quite a few” unbiased broadcasts over the years and does not have room to think about loyalty once the game starts.
His process is mechanical. Breen said he concentrates on the game, works with his analysts, producer, director and the statistician, and watches the action while making calls. “You don’t really have time; you just kind of react to what’s happening,” he said.
That is the practical edge for him. He said his energy matches the flow of the game, and when he is on a nationally televised broadcast he focuses on doing his job and meeting the moment for both teams rather than leaning toward one side.
Fans and the Knicks voice
Breen expects pushback anyway. “Whether it’s the Knicks or whether it’s two teams that I don’t broadcast locally, the fans think you’re for the other team,” he said, and he added that Cavaliers fans may think he sounds like he is rooting for the Knicks while Knicks fans may say he is overcompensating when he gets excited about Cleveland. That is the friction baked into a series like this, where a local voice is handling a national stage.
He also said that fan passion is part of why these broadcasts feel alive. “And I kind of think in some ways, that’s very cool because it shows how much they care, and it’s one of my favorite things about this time of year, the passion of the fans. Now, some fans get a little too passionate, certainly, but they care so much that they lose their objectivity. And that’s okay, because that’s the way they should be rooting for your team,” he said.
Michael Kay Show conversation
Breen joined The Michael Kay Show this week and used the appearance to address the obvious question around the Knicks-Cavaliers matchup. Michael Kay is his former Fordham University roommate, and Breen opened the conversation by praising Kay’s call of Tyrone Taylor’s game-tying three-run homer against the Yankees on Sunday afternoon.
The timing matters because Breen has faced this before. Two years ago, during the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Pacers fans accused him of rooting for the Knicks, and he said fans often reach the same conclusion during NBA Finals broadcasts. For Breen, that reaction is part of the job: call the game cleanly, keep pace with the action and let both fan bases argue after the fact.
