![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776103763_468_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nFor Knicks fans who have become accustomed to Mike Breen and Walt \u201cClyde\u201d Frazier ringing in the playoffs on MSG Network, this year\u2019s postseason will bring an adjustment.<\/p>\n
Local television broadcasts typically have been a staple of the first round of the NBA playoffs, but not anymore. For the first time \u2014\u00a0as part of the league\u2019s 11-year, $76 billion media rights deal that began this season\u00a0\u2014\u00a0every playoff game will be exclusively broadcast on either ABC\/ESPN, NBC\/Peacock or Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n
Game 1 of the Knicks’ first-round playoff series against the Hawks will be streamed exclusively on Amazon Prime Video at 6 p.m. Saturday. The rest of the schedule for the series is not set as of Monday.<\/p>\n
Breen, who will continue to be the voice of the NBA Finals for ESPN, sounded off on the unwelcome change during Sunday night\u2019s regular-season finale between the Knicks and Hornets at Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cI personally think, Clyde, it’s a poor decision,\u201d Breen said. \u201cFans want to hear their teams\u2019 [announcers], at least in the first round. Because for so many of us \u2014\u00a0and all of my favorite teams growing up \u2014\u00a0the home team announcers, they become part of the family, such a big part of why you root for the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I get it, that the networks pay a fortune to get exclusivity. Obviously, I work for one of the networks, and it’s important for them. But I just think the fans deserve to be thrown a bone once in a while in terms of, let the home team have a little bit of the first round somehow, if there’s any way they could ever work out some kind of compromise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m not hopeful for that, but it’d be wonderful to have it because this is our final telecast of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime will stream all six games of the NBA Play-In Tournament and up to 11 first-round games, according to a guide published by Amazon earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Breen\u2019s words were met with plenty of support. Regional broadcasters around the NBA took to X, applauding him for speaking about the matter despite the fact he will continue to be on air for the postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally appreciate this, especially coming from someone like Mike Breen,\u201d wrote Natalie Kerwin, a sideline reporter and host for the East\u2019s top-seeded Pistons\u2019 broadcasts. \u201cWish we had the chance to call playoff basketball with our crew this postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Ray, the play-by-play announcer for the Western Conference\u2019s seventh-seeded Suns, wrote: \u201cSay it louder for everyone in the back! When the Legend speaks somebody should listen!\u201d<\/p>\n
And Vic Lombardi, an on-air reporter and host for the West\u2019s third-seeded Nuggets, posted: \u201cMike Breen spewing truth. Sucks we can\u2019t carry ANY playoff games. We will still carry pre and post game shows on @AltitudeTV. But the league has $76 billion reasons they chose this path. I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Knicks vs. Hawks playoff schedule<\/p>\n
Game 1: Atlanta at New York | Saturday April 18 (6\u00a0p.m. Eastern, Prime Video)<\/p>\n
Game 2: Atlanta at New York | TBD<\/p>\n
Game 3: New York at Atlanta | TBD<\/p>\n
Game 4: New York at Atlanta | TBD<\/p>\n
Game 5: Atlanta at New York | TBD*<\/p>\n
Game 6: New York at Atlanta | TBD*<\/p>\n
Game 7: Atlanta at New York | TBD*<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports’ general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday\u2019s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Knicks fans who have become accustomed to Mike Breen and Walt \u201cClyde\u201d Frazier ringing in the playoffs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,677,3969,6,191],"class_list":{"0":"post-709783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-hawks","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-atlantahawks","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-hawks","13":"tag-media","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-new-york-knicks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116398746648603065","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709783","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=709783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}