Mike Breen has become the voice of the NBA Finals and has authored some of the most iconic calls in recent basketball memory, with his trademark being the “Bang!” call after a big shot.
Breen isn’t as constantly excitable as some commentators, instead choosing to be more discerning about when to raise his voice and let a “Bang!” fly. That wasn’t always the case, as he explained recently on the NBA Today (and more broadly on the ESPN Daily podcast), explaining that the “Bang!” call first started when he was simply watching Fordham basketball games in the stands as a student after made baskets. He would try it as he started his broadcast career but noted he didn’t like it, shelving it for awhile before eventually bringing it back — Breen also is sure to note that he’s not the first to use it, as longtime Celtics radio man Johnny Most did so across his five decade career.
It’s good that Breen did bring it back because it has become one of the iconic lines in basketball vocabulary, and as Richard Jefferson notes in the video, it’s both exhilarating to hear when its for your team but one of the most deflating sounds when it’s for the other team. There are few things quite like a fourth quarter “Bang!” in a big game, and we’ll see if either the Warriors or Celtics can author such a moment in Game 6 on Thursday night.