Transcript of Mike Breen Explains His Call At The End of Cavaliers vs. Knicks | Postgame Show New

I was thinking the other day, as I have since the season of football ended, and I lamented the fact that the Rams fell from 1 to 5 in seeding because their punt returner couldn't catch the ball, that the returning of punts I believe to be the single scariest job in that sport, just because you're looking up into the sky and a bunch of people are running at you full speed. And I think it's really difficult to catch punts. So the Carolina Panthers, you're watching an assortment of offensive linemen here try to catch punts, and I am insisting that our show try to do this. I'm insisting that Tony and Chris Cody and Roy go out to a football field. Can you guys please—

I'm catching a punt.

I, I don't believe— I believe you guys will go like— what are you thinking is the over-under? If I give you 10 punts to catch, how many do you think you guys are gonna catch collectively?

If we all are for all in?

No, no, each, each of you gets 10 chances to catch a punt. Uh, that is the equivalent— like, we're gonna have a college punter do it, right? We're gonna have them—

or the machine that they use.

We need to make sure that it's not a stinky punt or a line drive punt. It's got to be straight into the sky. And you're also doing it without people running toward you, which changes the degree of difficulty.

I would put— you know, I know people think that I overstate my athletic ability. I would put good money I would catch 3 out of 10.

Really?

That low?

Yeah, that's very low.

Oh, I mean, it's not easy. I've never done it before. I'm just like assuming, so kind of putting the bar a little low.

That's sandbagging is what you're doing.

You guys are seeing offensive linemen— I know we can make fun of their athleticism, but these are athletes and they look ridiculous. Like, the— when you— when I'm showing you professional athletes, offensive linemen are not trying to catch this falling out of the sky. They look like they're people who have never been around football before, because I think this is a lot harder than you guys think it is. Greg, what would you say as a football expert?

Uh, what—

how many do you think— if I had to set a betting number on how many your son is going to catch, where would you put it.

Okay, if the punt is fairly right at me, in other words, if I don't have to move more than 5 yards in, in any direction, uh, I would catch 7 out of 10. Price, if I have to—

you—

all right, send him out there too. Go with him.

Dangerous at this point, he's old.

No, go with him. I need you to take him. I need you to take him with you.

Do we have to have a helmet on?

Because that is my name.

Yes, of course.

Oh, the helmet on, that's tough.

Yeah. All right, I'm going—

I'm—

I'll set mine at 4. If I have to have a helmet.

All right.

Without a helmet, I'd be at 5.

We're going— we're going to absolutely do this. And I ask that you please take Greg out there because it would be good video.

Better video. You'll break a hip.

That's fine.

Break a hip.

Yeah, I need to have that helmet on because I don't want to get hit in the face with the football, which is most likely going to happen.

Juju's going to join us here in a second. We didn't get to something that was fairly big news, I guess, which is that Jason Kidd's not going to get the prime of Cooper Flagg to make sure that the rest of Jason Kidd's coaching career, even though I think he'll get other jobs because he's been around a long time and he's done well enough, I suppose, and he's popular. He does things politically well with executives who hire him for very good positions. What were your thoughts, uh, Zazz, on Jason Kidd being fired by the Mavericks? It really stinks when you get a generational player and are not allowed to coach him. Uh, uh, Pop stepped down at the perfect time for any coach to step into the perfect situation in San Antonio.

Yeah, so it was a mutual parting of ways, but I'm not surprised at all that he's out because when Saiyajiri was introduced, what was it, a week or two ago. I mean, it was very clear the way he answered the question about Jason Kidd that Jason Kidd is not going to be the coach of this team moving forward. But also, Jason Kidd apparently wanted to be the team president. If you're trying to be the team president and then they hire someone else instead, there's no way you are still with that team.

And it's unfortunate because he did a good job with Cooper Flagg. And Juju, I'd like to get your thoughts on this too, like turning him into a point guard in the beginning of the season, like, allowed him to create an offense that was not just him slashing, not just him in transition, but like creating a more complete full-spectrum offensive game for him. Juju, um, what do you think about the firing of Jason Kidd?

Yeah, I agree with both of y'all. The combination of what both of y'all said— Masai got knowledge, bruh. Masai ain't no sit by and hire somebody to do something. Masai got a plan, and unfortunately Jason Kidd just didn't fit whatever plan that is. Salute to him getting us that far to the chip one time, but his time was over.

I, I think it's kind of stupid that they made the move now. First of all, he didn't trade Luka. Like, like, you can't blame Jason Kidd for that disastrous trade. And second of all, they make the Finals 2 years ago. Like, that's not good enough anymore? Crazy.

Juju, uh, last night we all saw what went down. I, uh, I think Kenny Atkinson deserves a lot of blame. Where do you stand?

Exactly. That's what I'm gonna say, what Dan wouldn't allow y'all to say for some reason. My boy Dan turned into a Knicks supporter. I don't What's happening? It was 9:07 in the morning and Dan talking about nobody celebrating the Knicks, bro. It's early as hell, kick it off, let's celebrate, you feel me? So I'mma go through some points that why we should and could be allowed to, uh, criticize that boy Kenny, man. Number one, man, take James' ass out. He barely played in the third quarter when things was rolling any damn way. He scared to foul, he got 4 fouls, he scared to foul, and he getting cooked Take his ass out. That's regular people knowledge in the earth. That's not no super duper coach need to understand what happened. Take his ass out. What you think about that, Zazz?

Honestly, like, I wonder, I wonder what the fallout is if you do that. Like, you almost can't do it for what it means for the rest of the series.

It's a funny thing that Juju is suggesting there, and there are very few coaches that will take the final piece that's been added to get you over the hump and bench it in the first game of the most important game.

It's the playoffs though, guys. Guys, this is not the time to cater to you Beyoncé style. Max Strus is giving you energy when he's in. Dennis Schroeder is the European Player of the Year. We need some energy.

We—

this guy is getting cooked. I don't give a damn how this brother feel. This is the playoffs, bro.

I don't think I've ever heard an opposing head coach talk about an all-time great the way that Mike Brown just volunteered at the end of the— at the end of that game when speaking to the press. Yeah, we were hunting him. We were hunting James Harden. We were hunting one of the 75 greatest players in the history of the NBA.

Here's the problem with that. And I understand how it is that Juju is arriving at playing the result of obviously get him out of the game. That's a disaster. It's cruel what they're doing to James Harden. Game 1, a coach cannot look at a final piece and say that loudly, I don't trust you, to that guy, a Hall of Famer. I don't trust you. Never mind if his confidence is shaky. His coach signs up for, yeah, it's shaky because I can't play you.

But Dan, you always say leaders make difficult decisions. Like, it's easier for the coach there just to hide behind, this is my best player.

I feel that the difficult decision is trying to get through this game because I actually do need him to play well for us to even win the series.

Kenny Atkinson is regarded as a good coach and was fired from places that left a lot of people confused because he doesn't really give a crap about what the superstars think. And he doesn't have loyalty to James Harden, who is a mercenary who just got to Cleveland. I don't think Kenny is that guy. If he's had— if he has James Harden out on the floor, I think there's a good reason for it.

I would understand if anybody here is saying the very simple, "Get him out." And I'm asking you now, as a coach, has to manage human beings' egos, has to be at the side of his players, this is the one guy you got for this situation. You're going to announce to everyone that you trust him less than everyone else trusts him?

And you're also essentially telling your general manager, Bad trade.

I think Kenny Atkinson deserves a little credit here because he's kind of a hard-ass.

Juju, we got some polls today to update. What do we got?

Yes, sir, man. Have you ever used the word rappy kak? 97% of the audience says no, they haven't.

Well, they're about to learn.

Weird.

More competitive, Mina Kimes or Victor Wembanyama? 86% of the audience says Mina Kimes.

She was so mad.

Before I get to this— Yeah, I don't like what y'all did to my sister right there. Put her in that game. Before I get to the last poll, I'd like to say happy birthday to my brother, man. My big dog, Chris Cody, man. Like, woo!

Happy birthday to him.

I don't care.

Good luck.

Thank you. Thank you. As part of my birthday celebration, I went to a hibachi place 2 nights in a row the last 2 nights.

Oh my God, you're living.

You bring any home?

Now, I didn't choose to do this. I brought some home the first night, the second night.

How bad does your clothes smell?

Oh, the best.

The post-hibachi, just like feeling tired feeling. I've had that a lot the last few days. I didn't have to— like, my family— I don't need to get into the details of why I did it. It was just scheduling, and all of a sudden I'm going there 2 nights in a row. And did I push back on that? No, I did not.

Now, did you make sure that it was just you at the table with the stove? 'Cause if you got other people, you got strangers, that sucks.

No, I had a big enough crew both nights that it was all people I knew. That is awkward though when you get at a hibachi table and it's just like, let's do this awkward thing where we don't talk to each other, but we make awkward eye contact.

Did you have the same order both nights?

No, I changed it up.

Did the shrimp throw the thing in your mouth or no?

The first night there was some shrimp tossing, not the second night.

The shrimp throw the thing in your mouth? A shrimp fried this rice? This is what you just said with your first access to a microphone in I don't know how long. Was— did the shrimp throw something at you?

What an idiot.

But yeah, I'm—

last poll. Is it cheating to buy a fake buzzer to practice for Jeopardy!? 72% of the audience says no. And those are your polls.

That's a shock right there. That is— I thought for sure people would want to accuse Mina Kimes of cheating there. You guys can leave. Mike Breen has told us to call him, so you guys can leave and I will just sit here until we get Mike Breen on the phone here because my timing is not exceptional here and I just have a telephone number and a text. He doesn't want to do Zoom. He doesn't want to do anything else. So just call Mike Breen so that I can get an answer to the question that we have.

Hello?

Hello, Mike. It's nice to hear you sounding so chipper, obviously because the Knicks won last night and you're incredibly biased.

Oh, how much do I love you?

Uh, let's play this for Mike Breen, one of the most professional of the professionals who have ever been professional, and see how he feels about this call last night.

Merrill, 3-pointer, in and out! That one halfway down.

Has that ever happened to you before, Mike, where you get half a bang out and then get it, uh, not wrong because you called it very well given what the situation was?

Uh, yes, it has. Uh, I think I got the B and the A out last night. Uh, a couple of times I've had the B, the A, and the N. Uh, So yes, no, it has. I mean, I honestly, I make mistakes every game. If you're looking for the perfect call, I'm not your guy. I'm so in awe of— there's so many great play-by-play voices now, and I'm in awe when they go, "Hold on, Gerald, mistake." But I make them all the time. It's just, it's live television. I get emotional, I get excited. And I thought, I really thought that one was going in. So what happened?

Nick Wright accused you of being so eager to appear impartial that you got a little ahead of yourself. Is the accusation accurate?

Well, in his mind it is so, but in my mind, no, no. I really thought it was going in. It could have been a game winner. I'm a big Sam Merrill fan, but no, it looked like it was good. And on the replay, at least that did justify me coming close to getting it right because it was— it really was. There's about half the ball that was under the cylinder and then it just popped out. Um, but I, uh, you know, again, it's not the first time, probably won't be the last time. You know what I remember when I was a kid? I was— I'm a big New York Giants football fan. Remember the announcer named Jim Gordon? He was the radio voice, did the Rangers too, was a great play-by-play guy in my childhood. And, uh, when he would call a Giants pass, he'd, he'd, uh, he'd go Phil Simms back to pass. He throws complete. No, incomplete. He would do that 4 or 5 times a game, and it was— I thought it was marvelous because he thought it was complete and he corrected right away. In and out. That one halfway down.

Dan, Nick Wright is going to be so mad at you. He specifically said that Mike Breen is one of the only people that he cares to have the respect of, and then you just went and laid him under the bus.

No, I didn't lay him under the bus at all.

No, not you, Mike. Not you, Mike. No, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. As a fellow regional NBA broadcaster, I need to make it abundantly clear you and I simpatico. But Nick Wright, damn true. Nick Wright, anything but ourselves.

I can't believe you just did that to Mike Breen. That's unacceptable.

He and I, we're here, fellow regional broadcaster.

That's Jeremy Taché saying he's a fellow anything of yours.

That's T-A-C-H-E.

Thank you, Mike, for being on with us. Thank you for being a good sport. We love you. Yes, we do love you.

I'm worried though. The last time I was on, we had this great emotional long interview and then you hadn't had me on since then. I just thought I've been a little, little neglected.

You want to botch calls more often? I'll have you on more often. You get them right too often is the problem. You do it correctly. That's not interesting. But you get half a bang out and then Zazz accuses you of premature bangulation. Then I'm going to have you on.

One last thing. So we're in the bubble and and I think it was Eric Gordon took a shot. Now in the bubble, we were 25 rows up and we were behind plexiglass. So sometimes the angle was funky and Eric Gordon takes a shot and it goes under the rim and hits the net perfectly with the net splashes like it went in. And I make the call, Eric Gordon, it's good. And Jeff Gundy is my partner at the time. He pauses a second. He goes, Mike, that was an airball. So these things will happen and they'll happen more.

Love you. Love your work. Thank you, sir. Bleep out me saying the words Nick Wright so I can deny it. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Mike.