The Timeless Two-Man Game of Mike Breen and Clyde Frazier
Over the past 25 years of (mostly bleak) Knicks basketball, there has been at least one positive force to guide New York fans: the Hall of Fame broadcast duo of Breen and Frazier. “It just clicked from day one,” Breen says.
The 21st-century New York Knicks have not exactly been a model for consistency in the NBA. Since a miraculous run in the 1999 playoffs brought them within just three wins of their first championship since 1973, the Knicks have made it past the first round only three times. Despite being one of the NBA’s highest-spending teams, in one of its most attractive markets, New York has missed the playoffs 16 times since 2001. During that time, the organization has cycled through 11 head coaches and eight top executives. Aside from a handful of hopeful moments, the past quarter century of Knicks basketball has been characterized by dysfunction, turnover, and false prophets.
Through it all, through every “Fire [insert name here]!” chant at Madison Square Garden, there has been at least one stabilizing force to guide Knicks fans: the legendary broadcast duo of Mike Breen and Walt “Clyde” Frazier.
Last month marked 25 years since Breen and Frazier’s first TV broadcast together on MSG Network. On February 5, 1999, the Patrick Ewing–led Knicks played the Orlando Magic in the first game of that year’s lockout-shortened season. Looking back on that momentous night now, what Breen remembers most is the nerves.
“It was the biggest game of my life up until then,” Breen tells The Ringer. “And I’m doing it with a guy whose jersey is up in the rafters at the Garden.”
Back then, Breen was an up-and-coming broadcaster facing the daunting task of replacing Marv Albert. “I was nervous because, quite frankly, Marv had set the standard on the MSG Network for so long,” Breen recalls. Albert had been broadcasting Knicks games for so many years that, when Clyde’s Knicks squads won the title in 1970 and 1973, it was Albert’s voice on the radio making the call. All of a sudden, Breen found himself not only stepping in for a Hall of Famer whom he had viewed as a mentor.
