Why Mike Breen Broke Out Double Bang For Knicks Latest Win

Mikal Bridges' game-winning three-pointer received the rare double "Bang" treatment from New York Knicks broadcaster Mike Breen.
Jan 17, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen during the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Jan 17, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen during the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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Anyone who stayed up late to watch the New York Knicks' annual visit to the Pacific Northwest to face the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night-into-Thursday morning certainly got plenty of "Bang!" for their buck.

An unexpectedly thrilling showdown between the Knicks and Blazers had longtime New York play-by-play man Mike Breen in rare form, as he broke out the rare "double bang" to herald Mikal Bridges' game-winning three-pointer at the end of a 114-113 overtime final.

Well-known for his signature call of "Bang!" for big shots during his work on both MSG Network and ABC/ESPN, Breen has doubled down on only nine times. He explained why Bridges' heroic heave called for such a celebration during a Friday appearance on "The Michael Kay Show" on ESPN New York.

"That was one of the most bizarre finishes to regulation and overtime that I’ve seen in a long time,” Breen recalled (h/t Barrett Sports Media). “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.’”

Wednesday's game featured 42 lead changes, the second most in a single game since the NBA began documenting the stat in 1996. The Knicks held a six-point lead toward the end of regulation before Portland fought back and the hosting Blazers took the lead of a successful Deni Avdija and-one with just over three seconds left.

That was just enough time for Bridges, fresh off garnering headlines for publicizing his issues with the Knicks starters' minutes, to put up his fateful fling to earn the last of 33 points as New York evened up its ledger on this ongoing Western Conference road trip. It was the first time Breen went "double bang" this season as he previously did for Jaylen Brown's clutch equalizer for the Boston Celtics in the opening game of the Eastern Conference Finals in May.

Breen told fellow New York broadcasting icon Kay, the television voice of the New York Yankees, that he carried "concern for mankind" thanks in part to the cult following he has received, as fans have obsessively documented his double bang blarings. He did, however, thank the documentarians for creating an extraordinary element to what believes is one of the more mundane requirements of his profession.

Mike Breen
December 9, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; ESPN broadcasters Doris Burke (left) and Mike Breen (right) before the in-season tournament championship between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Indiana Pacers at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

“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.”

Though the Knicks (42-23) are in an exclusive national television window for their next game, Breen will likely be on the call when they face the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night in San Francisco (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC). Don't, however, expect him to offer three helpings of "Bang!" on the road ahead.

“No, no,” Breen told Kay. “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, ‘All right, 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.

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks