Mike Breen / the announcers (merged)

[Last Train]

I like Van Gundy and Jackson. Breen isn't anti Celtics, he just is bad at what he does.

I have more a problem with ABC showing that cartoon movie character every half hour.

[Chief]

They're just doing there jobs, most of it scripted. Compared to the Cleveland series and the Lebron love fest, this seems minimal.

[connerhenry43]

i do not like them, but JVG and mark jackson have grown on me. breen is terrible. absolutely horrendous. any foul going to the hoop, he is obsessed with hard fouls. any jumper over 16 feet he thinks is a three. he gets names wrong, he is clearly pulling for the lakers, and he just harps on his pre-determined story lines.

that being said, a prior post had it right: i just want mike and tommy. i wish we were a 24 win team still so we did not have to deal with any of this national broadcasting stuff.

wait, scratch that last comment. 

[Steve Weinman]

They're just doing there jobs, most of it scripted. Compared to the Cleveland series and the Lebron love fest, this seems minimal.

Yeah, the Doris Burke Bron-fest was on a whole 'nother planet.

-sw

[Last Train]

i do not like them, but JVG and mark jackson have grown on me. breen is terrible. absolutely horrendous. any foul going to the hoop, he is obsessed with hard fouls. any jumper over 16 feet he thinks is a three. he gets names wrong, he is clearly pulling for the lakers, and he just harps on his pre-determined story lines.

that being said, a prior post had it right: i just want mike and tommy. i wish we were a 24 win team still so we did not have to deal with any of this national broadcasting stuff.

wait, scratch that last comment. 

Tommy point for you sir. Breen calls every foul in the paint a "hard foul." Also on about 50% of the misses he says "not that time."

[Andy Jick]

this is the worst #1 announcing team in all of professional sports, including hockey.  if this is the best that ESPN can provide for the pinnacle of professional basketball it shows just how little talent they have at the "worldwide leader in sports..." 

these guys are terrible together, and it's not surprising given that they have very little combined experience.

voices grow on you, but i find Breen to be average.  Van Gundy brings great knowledge and humor...Mark Jackson, well, I have no idea what he's trying to accomplish.

[Chris]

Honestly, I like these guys.  I think Breen is pretty mediocre (I wish they had Marv Albert or someone like that), but Van Gundy and Jackson are excellent. 

You have to take the whole superstar thing in stride, especially from the play by play guys.  You will get that from any of them, because they know they are a dime a dozen, and can be replaced very easily.  They need to make the network and league happy by building up the guys who get ratings, and interest the casual fans...and that is Kobe and Lebron.

[Who]

I prefer both the Lakers and Celtics announcing teams. Far superior to anything on the national broadcasts.

[Brickowski]

I couldn't figure out whether these guys were calling a basketball game or engaging in a Kobe love-fest.  So I muted them about midway through the second quarter and the game was much more enjoyable after that.

I will probably watch the remainder of the series on mute as well.  Who is doing the game on radio?  If it's Jack Ramsay I might listen to that while I'm watching on TV.

[newdusk]

Can We Get Some Replays PLEASE!!! They never show replays of questionable calls on either end. I thought Pierce got fouled about 3 or 4 times going to the hole. I can't say for sure he was I just wish they could show a couple replays. I love how JVG just speaks his mind. IT IS REFRESHING. He really appreciates the game of basketball and you can tell he has no bias whatsoever. Mike Breen was grown inside a test tube and fermented for about sixty years in order to remove any ounce of humanity. Jackson wants a job but JVG always manages to bait him.. This is still honestly the best TV team for the finals in years. The people that need to go are Stu Scott, Jon Barry and Wilboun.

I HATE JOHN BARRY ever since he passed over the Celtics. I almost want Tom Tolbert back, how come all the pro-athletes we hate end up doing TV. I can't wait to see Vince Carter in a couple years especially if he talks about a player not hustling.

[the_Bird]

I really like Van Gundy, and I don't mine Mark Jackson (Breen...  well, doesn't bother me as much as some, but I don't particularly care for him).  JVG, though, will point out lots of things that other announcers or commentators would never notice or think about. 

A play a couple games ago, pretty innocous on the surface, I think it was Kobe missed a 3 and we got the rebound.  JVG was all over Pierce's excellent defense on the play, showing how he was protecting the baseline against Gasol and immediately recovered to contest the perimiter shot.  Giving us a real solid, concrete example of what it means that Pierce has been playing exceptional defense, and something that the less-sophisticated ball-watchers among us (like myself!) never would have picked up.  I really like stuff like that.

[connerhenry43]

this is the worst #1 announcing team in all of professional sports, including hockey.  if this is the best that ESPN can provide for the pinnacle of professional basketball it shows just how little talent they have at the "worldwide leader in sports..." 

these guys are terrible together, and it's not surprising given that they have very little combined experience.

voices grow on you, but i find Breen to be average.  Van Gundy brings great knowledge and humor...Mark Jackson, well, I have no idea what he's trying to accomplish.

hockey is still a professional sport. who knew? 

[timpiker]

I'm trying to hold my tongue about these announcers and not say what I really think about them but I will say

1.  thank God for the mute button
2. thank God for my DVR

2.  Hey guys - why don't you and Kobe just get a room?

[jay_jay54]

Aren't all 3 guys  pass-affiliated with the Knicks,in some kind of way?...if so,they would carry some bais feelings towards the Celtics,and if this is true,the blame is not so much with the announcers,IMO,its the people responsible for placing them in this position.Imagine a xCeltic player,xCeltic coach,and Mike Gorman calling this series together at the national level...if it was a Knick/Lakers series,and if we had been beaten as much by the Knicks as the Celts has beaten them?...and this is not excusing their onesided opinions, the positions  people are put in sometimes, do not always make a lot of sense.

[the_Bird]

.Imagine a xCeltic player,xCeltic coach,and Mike Gorman calling the games at the national level...

Uh, remember Tommy Heinson in the '80s?  Calling the Finals games, with the CELTICS playing?