Mike Breen: Double ‘Bang!’ Calls are More About the ‘Flow of the Game’

When New York Knicks guard Mikal Bridges knocked down a game-winning three-point shot to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night, ESPN and MSG Networks play-by-play announcer Mike Breen repeated his signature “Bang!” call a second time. Basketball fans who track Breen’s calls divulged that it was the ninth time in which he utilized the double “Bang!” sequence in a game, generating buzz and excitement across the internet. Breen first devised the exclamation while attending Fordham University and shouted it out from the stands as a fan, and he later equipped it on a game broadcast calling high school basketball games to avoid being completely drowned out in the gymnasium.

Breen explained these origins during an appearance on the Friday afternoon edition of The Michael Kay Show on ESPN New York as he spoke about the Knicks and other matters pertaining to basketball. Kay, who attended college with Breen at Fordham University, asked what constitutes a call to receive a double “Bang!” call. In response, Breen explained that it is not something he really thinks about and is instead related to the flow of the game itself.

“For example, that was one of the most bizarre finishes to regulation and overtime that I’ve seen in a long time,” Breen said. “It’s like there’s a minute there [where] you think, Okay, Knicks have this all secure.’ Then, there’s the next two possessions later, like, ‘They’re going to lose this game,’ so it was the seesaw-rollercoaster style that made it like, ‘Wow, they actually pulled this out.’”

Breen remembered that the first time he delivered a double “Bang!” call during an NBA game broadcast was when Stephen Curry hit a three-point shot from nearly half court to propel the Golden State Warriors to victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Earlier in the game, Curry had turned his ankle and looked like he would be out, but he returned with the team facing a deficit and hit the shot. This explanation led Kay to ask whether or not Breen would ever consider a triple “Bang!” variation of the call.

“No, no,” Breen said. “I was on Jalen Brunson’s and Josh Hart’s Roommates podcast and they asked me the same thing, and I told them. I said, ‘Alright, if somebody hits a game-winning shot in a Finals game, maybe that will do it,’ but I don’t know, I think that’s a little much.”

Kay recognized that the double “Bang!” calls are not planned and wondered how Breen felt about people keeping track of his calls. Breen stated that he was “concerned for mankind” that people have documented these moments on the broadcasts, but he also expressed gratitude in that viewers have found enjoyment in such instances.

“It’s so humbling and flattering that people think that it’s fun and it’s exciting because that’s basically our job as play-by-play voices,” Breen said. “When you do a game, you want to enhance the enjoyment, you want to enhance the excitement and you want to do justice to something special that a player just did ,whether it’s on the court or on the field. So when people like that and get into it, it’s incredibly flattering.”

Aside from the game-winning shot by Bridges, the Wednesday night broadcast marked the final time former shooting guard Jamal Crawford was scheduled to appear on an MSG Networks Knicks game broadcast on the season. Crawford has signed on to join NBC Sports as a game analyst starting next season when the company commences an 11-year media rights deal with the NBA. In a message posted to his Instagram page, Crawford described collaborating with Breen as akin to a young actor working with Denzel Washington or Al Pacino and that he learned a lot through the experience.

“He’s one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, in addition to being he has potential to be great at this,” Breen said of Crawford earlier in the interview. “He was so much fun to work with, and his basketball knowledge and the fact that he just recently played makes him, for the viewer, I’ve received so much positive feedback, but he’s just so kind with his compliments, and I’m flattered by what he said, but he’s just so good at it. I have nothing to do with it.”

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