Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson Forced to Kill Time During Thunder Blowout Win

Mike Breen had to reach deep into his bag on Wednesday night.
ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen in 2024.
ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen in 2024. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder made easy work of the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals, cruising to a 124–94 victory to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals.

While the game was a walk in the park for the Thunder, the blowout presented quite a challenge to play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and color commentator Richard Jefferson, who were charged with talking the audience through the action on the court.

Given that the Thunder led by at least 20 points for the majority of the game, that action on the court was not as compelling as what Breen is used to calling during his career.

By the fourth quarter, Breen was openly admitting that he was running out of things to say.

"There's still a lot of time. Let's see, what can I ask you? So, how did you get into the business?" Breen joked.

"I couldn't jump like these young guys anymore. So I thought it was time for a new job,” Jefferson said.

As always, thanks to Awful Announcing for pulling the clips.

In case you were wondering just how far into his bag Breen had to reach on Wednesday night while commentating, here he is complimenting the Thunder crowd on the precision of their cheers.

Breen will be back on the call for the NBA Finals when they kick off next week. Hopefully, he’ll get a game that’s a bit closer.


More NBA Playoffs on Sports Illustrated

feed


Published
Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.