Knicks-Magic Marks Mike Breen, Walt 'Clyde' Frazier Landmark
The Orlando Magic visit Madison Square Garden on Friday night to face the New York Knicks for an Eastern Conference tilt with sizable implications. Whatever they've got planned, it's nothing compared to the magic that has emanated from courtside on a nightly basis.
Matchups between the Knicks and Magic allow MSG Network's tenured broadcasters, Mike Breen and Walt "Clyde" Frazier, to take a trip down memory lane: their 25-year partnership, which they celebrated earlier this season, began in Central Florida at the delayed onset of the 1999 season and has continued to this day, as they're set to call the latest showdown between New York and Orlando on Friday night (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG).
The Knicks dropped a 93-85 decision to the Magic that night but Knicks fans have been winners ever since. With Orlando's visit looming, Breen looked back on game one in a retrospective with Daniel Chin of The Ringer.
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“It was the biggest game of my life up until then and I’m doing it with a guy whose jersey is up in the rafters at the Garden," Breen said. “I’ve worked with so many different partners over the years, and sometimes chemistry happens instantly, but that’s rare. Sometimes it takes a while, you get chemistry. Sometimes you can work for a long time and you never really click 100 percent."
"But with Clyde it was immediate and neither one of us can really explain it.”
At the time, Breen faced pressure as he prepared to take over the Knicks television play-by-play duties from longtime voice Marv Albert. Frazier helped ease that transition and then some and the two have been linked ever since.
While Frazier, who plans to stay on the MSG airwaves "as long as (he) can," was unavailable for comment, Breen continued to heap praise on his longtime broadcast partner, admitting that his colorful comparisons and rhymes have left an impact on his national calls on ABC and ESPN.
“I had such respect for him, clearly for who he was as a player and his knowledge of the game, so I gave him a lot of room to do whatever he needed to do on the air,” Breen said. “But the crazy thing is, right away, he gave me such respect and allowed me to do my thing. It was just a wonderful give-and-take. There was never a fight for airtime, there was zero ego involved. It just clicked from day one."
"I’m so glad it did because it’s turned out to be certainly one of the highlights of my career, but also, being partners with him for all this time is one of the true blessings in my life.”
