{"id":702381,"date":"2026-04-07T01:54:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:54:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702381\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T01:54:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T01:54:37","slug":"stephen-a-smith-bashes-mike-breens-knicks-praise-dont-give-free-passes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/702381\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen A. Smith bashes Mike Breen\u2019s Knicks praise: \u2018Don\u2019t give free passes\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows stephen a smith bashes mike breen’s knicks defense, Image 2 shows ESPN\/ABC basketball announcers Doris Burke and Mike Breen during the second quarter of the game between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets at TD Garden on March 2, 2025 , Image 3 shows New York Knicks president Leon Rose watching gameplay<\/p>\n

Leon Rose has once again orchestrated a 50-win Knicks season<\/a> \u2014 but Mike Breen\u2019s recent praise of the team president has been dubbed \u201cblasphemous\u201d by Stephen A. Smith.<\/p>\n

With the Knicks blowing out the Bulls on Friday, Breen \u2014 a colleague of Smith\u2019s at ESPN \u2014 suggested to viewers on the MSG broadcast that the expectations surrounding the Knicks had gotten out of hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many Knick fans, and many in the media, and many within the organization, who feel that this season would be considered a disappointing one if the Knicks don\u2019t make the NBA Finals,\u201d Breen said during the fourth quarter of New York\u2019s 136-96 demolition of Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Obviously a championship is what everyone wants and that\u2019s the goal, but just remember where the franchise was before Leon Rose arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the Knicks in third place of the Eastern Conference, Smith took issue with Breen\u2019s defense of Rose.<\/p>\n

Calling the play-by-play man a \u201cHall of Famer\u201d and \u201cone of the greatest voices in the history of sports,\u201d he then proceed to gently rip into the legendary broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know what he does for us, ESPN\/ABC. But you can\u2019t allow this to go unchallenged,\u201d Smith said. \u201cYou\u2019ve been there. We know that the New York Knicks have improved. \u2026\u00a0 New York Knick fans have suffered, We haven\u2019t won a championship since Richard Nixon left office. We haven\u2019t won a championship since 1973.<\/p>\n

\"ESPN\/ABC<\/p>\n

ESPN\/ABC basketball announcers Doris Burke and Mike Breen during the second quarter of the game between the Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets at TD Garden on March 2, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate Leon Rose and the job that he\u2019s done. Does that mean that we\u2019re supposed to be satisfied of every damn thing that falls short of a trip to the NBA Finals?\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite their 50-28 record, the Knicks\u2019 Finals aspirations have become muddied in recent weeks and months, with Jayson Tatum returning for the Celtics and James Harden being traded to the Cavs in February, while the Pistons lead the conference at 57-21.<\/p>\n

Still, to Breen\u2019s point, the Knicks have failed to make the playoffs just once since the 2020-21 season \u2014 Rose\u2019s first full season in charge of basketball operations. And that run was preceded by seven consecutive seasons without playoff basketball.<\/p>\n

Smith also went on to criticize Rose\u2019s blockbuster trade for Mikal Bridges \u2014 who has averaged just 11.6 points since the All-Star Break \u2014 before lovingly tearing into the 64-year-old Breen<\/a> again.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn it, Mike Breen, don\u2019t do this. Don\u2019t give passes,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe need a trip to the Finals. Because it\u2019s not looking good in the future. Boston\u2019s not going away, Detroit\u2019s coming.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be respectful to Mike Breen. But when I see you. And I will see you, we\u2019re gonna talk about this Mike Breen. I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Knicks<\/p>\n

Knicks president Leon Rose watches the Knicks take on the Clippers on Jan. 7, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n

With just four games left in the regular season, the Knicks are jostling for playoff positioning and hold a one-game lead over Cleveland for the No. 3 seed in the East.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll face fellow postseason teams in the Hawks, Celtics, Raptors and Hornets to close out the regular season before embarking on another playoff gauntlet.<\/p>\n

The Knicks reached the Eastern Conference Finals last season -\u2014 their first trip to that stage since 2000 \u2013 before falling to the Pacers in six games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows stephen a smith bashes mike breen’s knicks defense, Image…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,75,920,136,919,305,559,187,296,1409,130,677,560,77,304,7093,1260,2114,6,1136,191,3810,3806,114,2603],"class_list":{"0":"post-702381","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston-celtics","10":"tag-bulls","11":"tag-cavs","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-cleveland","14":"tag-clippers","15":"tag-denver-nuggets","16":"tag-detroit","17":"tag-eastern-conference","18":"tag-espn","19":"tag-hawks","20":"tag-james-harden","21":"tag-jayson-tatum","22":"tag-knicks","23":"tag-leon-rose","24":"tag-mikal-bridges","25":"tag-mike-breen","26":"tag-nba","27":"tag-new-york","28":"tag-new-york-knicks","29":"tag-newyork","30":"tag-newyorkknicks","31":"tag-pacers","32":"tag-stephen-a-smith"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116360936985455809","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}