Tag: Mike Breen

Mike Breen had the best call of 76ers fans celebrating free chicken after 2 missed Heat free throws

Hey, free chicken is enough to make anyone excited!

Miami Heat forward Caleb Martin missed two consecutive free throws during his team’s NBA Play-In Tournament game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, and it was a big deal.

Not just for the Heat who definitely wanted the two points, but for the 76ers fans who all won free chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A out of the moment.

Indeed, the “Bricken For Chicken” promotion gives all Philly fans free chicken nuggets from the fast food restaurant if an opposing player misses two shots from the charity stripe in the second half.

Martin did his part of the job, and ESPN NBA broadcaster Mike Breen did his with a very funny call to commemorate the crowd going wild for the free nuggets.

This is such a fun moment for Breen, who clearly knew how to accentuate the crowd’s reaction with such an endearing call.

Hey, people love free food. Boban Marjanović earned plenty of new Los Angeles Clippers fans when he missed two free throws to give that home crowd free chicken, and Martin did his part to win over some new fans in Philadelphia.

Maybe Breen will, too, with this delightful moment.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Mike Breen playfully roasted Doc Rivers after leaving ESPN for Bucks coaching job

Mike Breen gave Doc Rivers a very funny farewell from ESPN.

After the Milwaukee Bucks hired Doc Rivers as their new head coach this week, ESPN’s Mike Breen paid a hysterical tribute to his former co-worker.

Rivers wasn’t with ESPN very long before heading back to the NBA as a head coach, and Breen noted the irony as he joked about Rivers making such a swift career transition.

The best line had to be Breen thanking Rivers for his “many weeks of service” with the network, which is pretty accurate since Rivers really wasn’t with ESPN very long at all.

May we all have a co-worker like Breen to send us off like this if we leave for another job one day.

However, it was clear after Breen’s kidding around how much he and fellow ESPN broadcaster Doris Burke respect Rivers and enjoyed working with him for the time that they had.

Burke in particular delivered a moving farewell to Rivers as the latter tries to win another NBA title with the Bucks in his coaching return.

While we’re sure ESPN would take Rivers back in a heartbeat if the Milwaukee job doesn’t work out, he at least got a very fitting on-air goodbye from two of his former ESPN colleagues.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Mike Breen said he was saddened, surprised on losing Mark Jackson, Jeff Van Gundy in ESPN cuts

You have to feel for Mike Breen here.

With ESPN letting go of commentators Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy, it leaves the network’s lead NBA announcer Mike Breen without his longtime sidekicks.

Speaking with The New York Post, Breen expressed his sadness over Jackson and Van Gundy being gone from the network.

They’ll reportedly be replaced by longtime NBA reporter Doris Burke and former NBA coach Doc Rivers.

It’ll be a tough transition for Breen, however, as he’d really developed a great chemistry with Jackson and Van Gundy in the years they’d all worked together.

You could tell in Breen’s words how much the partnership meant to him.

“It’s sad because we really thought we had something special and that’s going to be the thought going forward is that we were able to do it a lot longer than anybody ever did,” Breen told The Post. “It’s something we’ll all treasure, but we just wish it was a little bit longer.

“You don’t expect it, because it was such a great team and to have it completely broken up was a surprise.”

This is a tough turn of events for Breen, but Burke and Rivers definitely could replace Jackson and Van Gundy with success.

It’s just never easy to say goodbye to your on-air partners, so we definitely get where Breen is coming from with his words. NBA fans will see how the transition goes when ESPN’s game coverage returns this fall.

Mike Breen seemed so annoyed by a fan who wouldn’t let him relax and watch Yankees-Mets

Breen just wanted to watch the game in peace!

Following a long NBA season, ESPN’s lead play-by-play voice Mike Breen is officially in “vacation mode.” After calling the Denver Nuggets’ first-ever championship in franchise history on Monday, one of the simultaneous Knicks voice’s first stops was understandable — a relaxing baseball game.

Well, he was probably hoping it’d be relaxing.

On Wednesday night, Breen was in attendance for the second game of the “Subway Series” between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. And when the ESPN camera focused on Breen at the bottom of the ninth, he didn’t look happy. In fact, he seemed downright annoyed, likely at the fan in front of him who was yelling and clapping.

I know the standard inclination to explain this is Insert Mets Joke Here, but based on Breen’s irritated face, one gets the sense this was happening all game:

Oof. You have to feel for Breen. After finishing the long grind of an eight-month NBA season, he picked a New York MLB game as one of the best places to chill out and let off some steam. But that apparently (and unfortunately) didn’t happen.

I get the sense he wasn’t letting off any “BANG” calls last night.

A hilarious meme with fake dialogue between Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson is everywhere

This is a hilarious new meme.

The trio of Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson on ABC and ESPN is always solid, with the play-by-lay man providing his usual great summary of the action (including a “BANG” or two), and the former coaches/players coloring in the action from their perspectives.

But it’s kind of funny at certain point when Van Gundy goes off the rails, sometimes off something Jackson said, and Breen has to gently bring the broadcast back to the action on the floor.

All of that has turned into a hilarious new meme that is now everywhere as the NBA Finals between the Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat:

Jamal Murray called his own ‘BANG!’ and pointed to Mike Breen after a clutch 3-pointer

What a wonderful tribute to Mike Breen!

Jamal Murray looked like the best player on the court on Thursday.

He led the Nuggets to a victory over the Lakers and took control of the series, 2-0, and had an outstanding scoring performance. He led all scorers with 37 points (11-24 FG, 6-14 3P, 9-10 FT) while also adding 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals.

It was an excellent showing from Murray, who played especially well late in the game, dropping 23 points in the fourth quarter. After one of his clutch 3-pointers over LeBron James late in the game, Murray also had a particularly iconic celebration.

He yelled “BANG!” like the ESPN announcer Mike Breen, then he pointed directly at Breen as he got back on defense.

This was such a legendary move from Murray and will go down as one of the highlights of the series, especially if the Nuggets advance to the NBA Finals.

What a wonderful tribute to Breen!

Also: If you want to learn more about how the announcer decided on this catchphrase, you can read this story from my colleague Charles Curtis.

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Steph Curry paid awesome tribute to 7th anniversary of Mike Breen’s legendary ‘BANG! BANG!’ call

“We got a double-bang call in 2016… I think we got a triple-bang call for Mr. Mike Breen himself.”

Back in 2016, before the Golden State Warriors became the unquestioned gold standard of the NBA (no pun intended), Steph Curry and Co. had some crucial business to take care of.

In what would be a preview of a memorable Western Conference Finals series, the Warriors were locked in a regular-season dead heat with Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Rather than let this clash of the titans head to a second overtime, Curry (who made 12 threes while scoring 46 incredible points) pulled up from 32 feet at the end of the first extra stanza and buried an unbelievable shot for the 121-118 win.

What amplified the amazing shot was the reaction of ESPN/ABC play-by-play announcer Mike Breen. Known for his trademark “BANG” call after big shots, Breen unleashed not one but two jubilant screams of “BANG” while seemingly barely containing himself at what Curry pulled off.

Breen’s call turned an already-legendary moment for the greatest shooter of all time into one of the most iconic plays in NBA history. As such, with the seventh anniversary of the play on the horizon (Feb. 28), Curry honored the announcer by gifting him some custom shoes, aptly named the “Curry 2 Bang Bang PE Retro.”

Curry’s ridiculous shooting and Breen’s joy for basketball: a match made in heaven.

At the time of this shot, we understood Curry was different.

He and the rest of the Warriors’ young core — featuring Draymond Green and Klay Thompson — had already turned Golden State into a powerhouse. After all, this was the year the team won a record 73 games in the regular season.

But this shot, this moment captured perfectly by Breen’s unique enthusiasm, might have helped catapult the Warriors into “iconic” territory. It’s only fair and touching that Curry would commemorate Breen’s evident love for basketball with this fantastic gift.

MIke Breen on the worst call of his career: the 2022 Jayson Tatum game-winner vs. the Nets

Breen has become an iconic part of the league’s broadcasting landscape but looks at one game in particular as his worst.

“Bang!” goes the catchphrase of one of the most familiar NBA broadcasting voices out there. We are, of course, talking about the legendary Mike Breen.

A veteran of countless games over decades, Breen has become an iconic part of the league’s broadcasting landscape, but he looks at one game in particular as his worst.

That game just so happens to be one of the more riveting and historic contests of the Boston Celtics‘ recent past: Game 1 of the 2022 NBA playoffs first-round series against the Brooklyn Nets. It seems Breen has an issue with how he called the contest that star Celtics forward Jayson Tatum won at the last second.

To hear why he feels that way, check out a clip from a recent interview on the “Old Man and the Three” pod hosted by former NBAer (and nearly, Boston assistant) JJ Redick we have embedded below for your viewing pleasure.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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