If it feels like it’s been weeks between Finals games between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers, it’s actually been two days, but I share your sentiment. Like any true basketball fan, I spend those days analyzing Victor Wembanyama’s every off season move (shaved head, embracing nirvana, all of that), and reliving the beautiful glory days of San Antonio Spurs basketball.
As luck would have it, Rich Eisen recently sat down with the great Mike Breen and had him relive his favorite Gregg Popovich memories during the occasional (almost too rare) times the Spurs played on national television. Breen, who was the play-by-play announcer for epic NBA moments like the 2016 Finals where the Cleveland Cavaliers came back from a 1 – 3 deficit against the Golden State Warriors super team, named several other personal favorites like the Milwaukee Bucks winning the city’s second NBA title in 2021, the Toronto Raptors winning their first title in 2019, and the game 7 clash between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics in 2010.
Notably, the longtime national commentator noted that the 2014 San Antonio Spurs title against the Miami Heat was, “\[T\]he best team basketball I think I’ve ever seen played.” He went on to name drop “The Beautiful Game” by saying, “what the Spurs did was basketball at its most beautiful.” Who could argue with someone who adeptly calls NBA games and can mediate between Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson?
Eisen went on to ask for Breen’s favorite Gregg Popovich story he witnessed as an insider, which Breen happily provided two:
1. Regarding those infamous (and intimate) team dinners, the Spurs started every meal with a two-word toast by raising their glass and saying, “To Timmy.”
2. Breen and NBA great Hubie Brown were calling a Spurs game against the New York Knicks when the Spurs had not been on national TV in a while, and Popovich and Brown had not seen each other for quite some time. Breen recalled the two men greeting each other with a five-minute hug. It’s safe to say Gregg Popovich and Hubie Brown have forgotten more about basketball than the entire NBA would ever know.
Mike Breen will be calling his 20th NBA Finals (Bang!), which is an impressive record in of itself. Be sure to catch Breen, Doris Burke, and the former Spurs player formerly known as Richard Jefferson when they cover Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
Until then, let’s raise our glass “To Timmy and Gregg Popovich.”