Mike Breen sad and stunned over Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson ESPN firings

Mike Breen called 15 NBA Finals with Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson. The trio were synonymous with the sport’s biggest event. But ESPN decided to end the broadcast team by firing Van Gundy in late June and Jackson on Monday.

This has left Breen stunned and disappointed.

“It’s sad because we really thought we had something special and that’s going to be the thought going forward is that we were able to do it a lot longer than anybody ever did,” Breen told The Post. “It’s something we’ll all treasure, but we just wish it was a little bit longer.

“You don’t expect it, because it was such a great team and to have it completely broken up was a surprise.”

Breen will continue on with new partners.

ESPN is expected to promote Doris Burke and hire Doc Rivers and put them next to Breen, who declined to comment on his potential new partners as it is not official. 

Breen is in the Basketball Hall of Fame in large part because of what he accomplished with Van Gundy and Jackson.

He and Van Gundy did 17 Finals together, as Jackson missed two years when he coached Golden State.

The trio has known each other for three decades, dating back to when Breen was the Knicks’ radio voice in the ‘90s, Van Gundy an assistant coach and Jackson a point guard.

Breen described the two men as brothers to him.

“They were the dream partners,” Breen said. “All the accomplishments were because of what we did together. I really do feel personally any success I had was because I had those two guys next to me. They just provided everything you would want in analysts. They’re smart. They’re funny. They’re knowledgeable about their sport. They’re opinionated. They love their sport, but are not afraid to criticize. They just had a little bit of everything.

“And we came off a Finals that we were so proud of. It was another Finals together and it was really a great story of Denver winning for the first time and we were on a high after it was all done so to come to grips with that was our final telecast is hard.

“The other part of it is the personal part and that’s tougher. Now, we’re going to be friends until the day we die. Those guys taught me so much about what I know about the NBA. I’ve learned more from those two than anybody. But they’ve also taught me about stuff that has nothing to do with basketball. I look up to both of them because not just their talents as broadcasters, but the kind of men they are. I just feel so privileged to have that time. 

“I’ve always said that I’m so honored to call the Finals every year, but what made it so special for me is I got to call it with those two and seeing it come to an end, it’s hard to come to grips with.”

Over the past month, Breen’s admiration has grown because of how Jackson and Van Gundy have handled their dismissals.

Jackson had an Instagram post Monday night where he mostly focused on his gratitude for his time with ESPN.

“The two of them showed the kind of men they are by the way they’ve reacted to this,” Breen said.  “Mark’s Instagram thing, the day he finds out that his services are no longer needed, what he wrote, shows you what he’s all about. He’s a man of faith. He’s a man of class. And for him to take it that way and and talk about what he was feeling, I thought was extraordinary.

“Jeff’s not on social media so he’s not going to put something out on Instagram. But the texts and the talks we’ve had since then, it’s the same thing. I’m amazed at how well they deal with these things and it’s one of the reasons why I’ve always looked up to them and how they handle stuff. It wasn’t a surprise to me how they handled it with such grace.”