Mike Breen says calling the Knicks-Cavaliers matchup for is not the test some fans imagine. Speaking this week on The Michael Kay Show, Breen said the job does not leave much room for rooting when he is locked into a broadcast.
“It really isn’t, and I’m not just saying that,” Breen said when Kay asked whether it is difficult to stay unbiased. He said he has done plenty of these games over the years, and once the ball is tipped, his attention is split among the action, the analysts, the producer, the director and the statistician. “You don’t really have time; you just kind of react to what’s happening,” he said.
The exchange came as prepares to carry the Knicks-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Finals matchup, a series that will put Breen in the center of one of the NBA’s most closely watched telecasts. Breen has long been described as a lifelong Knicks fan and the voice of the team, which has made his neutrality a regular topic whenever he is assigned to big postseason games.
That scrutiny is not new. Breen said fans in the NBA Finals have accused him from both sides of rooting for the other team, and he pointed to the Eastern Conference Semifinals two years ago, when Indiana Pacers fans said he was pulling for the Knicks on the broadcast. Knicks fans, he said, then accused him of overcompensating by getting too excited about the Pacers.
“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,” Breen said. He added that the passion is part of what he likes about this time of year. “I kind of think in some ways, that’s very cool because it shows how much they care,” he said. “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.”
Before turning to the Knicks, Breen also praised Kay for his call of Tyrone Taylor’s game-tying three-run homer against the Yankees on Sunday afternoon. Taylor’s shot came in the ninth inning after nine innings of tension, a reminder that Breen’s public conversations often move easily between New York teams and the broadcasters who cover them.
Breen said the same dynamic follows him whether he is calling the Knicks or two teams he does not cover locally. He watches Mets or New York Giants games as a fan, he said, and does not always bring the same objectivity that he demands during a broadcast. But once he is on the air, he said, the work leaves little room for anything else.
That is why the conversation matters now. The Knicks are headed into an Eastern Conference Finals spotlight, and Breen remains one of the most familiar voices attached to the franchise, even when he is working a national assignment. The more the stakes rise, the more every call is treated like evidence of allegiance, and Breen seems resigned to that reading — while making clear it has never changed how he does the job.
