Mike Breen 'thrilled' Knicks are still in playoffs, even if he can't call their games

Mike Breen knows he has nothing to complain about – and he certainly isn’t complaining.

What could be better for an NBA play-by-play man than Golden State-Sacramento in a Game 7 on Sunday, followed by a trip to San Francisco for Lakers-Golden State on Thursday?

But it also is true that he is thinking of home, where the Knicks, whose games he calls all season for MSG Networks, find themselves in a compelling series of their own.

“There’s a part of me that my heart wishes I was in New York,” Breen told Newsday upon arriving in San Francisco on Wednesday night. “But I’m thrilled for the coaching staff and the players and the front office to have this kind of success.

“But mostly I’m thrilled for the fans. Finally, they have a chance to root for a team that gives them hope and a team that has a chance every night.”

Before Game 7 in Sacramento, Breen and his analysts, former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy and former Knicks guard Mark Jackson, followed Knicks-Heat Game 1 as they prepared for their own game.

How could they not?

“We were getting into the game; it was fun,” Breen said. “Certainly, I’m thrilled that they’re still playing, but at the same time there’s part of me that wishes I was there as well.

“Nobody, but nobody, is feeling sorry for me, because doing a Game 7 the other night, it’s an honor to call those games.”

Local announcers not getting to call all of their teams’ playoff games is a fact of life in the NBA, NHL and MLB. This simply is the way it works.

“You go through a whole season, you follow the team, you travel with the team, you get to know the team, then the biggest games of the year, you have to sit on the sideline,” Breen said. 

“I think of [Golden State] TV announcer, Bob Fitzgerald, or Mike Gorman, the Celtics TV announcer, and they’re not calling games anymore. It’s hard on all of us. 

“I wish something could be worked out. I understand the reason why it is, but it’s a shame that the home team broadcast group still can’t call the biggest games of the year.”

Breen has a huge edge over most local announcers, because he is not merely a local announcer. He is the lead play-by-play man for ESPN/ABC, so Knicks or no Knicks, his playoff gig runs all the way to the Finals.

He did get to do all five games of the Knicks-Cavaliers series – three for MSG and two for ABC/ESPN.

“To be able to do some of the games with Clyde [Frazier], that was really fun, and just the whole crew,” Breen said. “We have such a great crew that works so hard. Everybody’s been waiting to have a season like this.”

But now local channels are out of the playoff mix, and Breen is on West Coast duty. Dave Pasch and Hubie Brown will work Knicks-Heat Game 3 on Saturday.

There is a slight chance Breen could do Knicks-Heat Game 6 if things are decided quickly in the West, but he cannot call any Knicks games if they reach the conference final because this season it is ESPN’s turn to carry the Western Conference and TNT’s to show the East.

Of course, if the Knicks make the NBA Finals, Breen will be back with them.

“You know what, in the year of unpredictability, you never know what the hell is going to happen,” Breen said.

Before flying west, Breen watched Game 2 of Knicks-Heat on Tuesday from the stands at Madison Square Garden, because TNT had the game. It’s something he does once or twice a year.

“You gain an appreciation of how much it means to the fans when you’re sitting in the midst of them,” he said. “It was really fun to be there and experience the atmosphere.”

After that, his focus turned to Golden State and the Lakers, a dream matchup produced by an upset-filled first round.

“I’ve never seen it like this, where it’s impossible to predict who’s going to win,” Breen said. “Part of it is because teams were up and down and uneven, part of it is because of their play, part of it is because you never knew who was going to be available to play.”

It produced a second round with every playoff seed from 1 to 8 represented. For national appeal, none of the matchups tops Golden State-Lakers.

“You have two of the legendary players of all time [in LeBron James and Stephen Curry],” Breen said. “You have them on the back ends of their careers, although I wouldn’t put it past either one of them to play for a lot longer.

“And they’re still playing at this incredibly high level that few have ever played at at this level at any age, let alone 38 and 35. Then you add in the rivalry the two have, from all the meetings in the Finals when LeBron was with Cleveland, and you have something special.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.