Mike Breen to miss Game 2 of NBA Finals, Mark Jones gets the call

ESPN & ABC announcer Mike Breen will miss Sunday’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics as he’s still recovering from the effects of COVID, per the New York Post’s Andrew Marchand.

No Mike Breen tonight.

On the call for Game 2 of the NBA Finals: Mark Jones, Jeff Van Gundy & Mark Jackson,

Breen scheduled to return for Game 3 in Boston.

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) June 5, 2022

Breen missed Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals as well as Game 1 of the NBA Finals due to COVID. However, according to Marchand, Breen is scheduled to make his return for Game 3 of the series when it moves to Boston.

Mark Jones, who replaced Breen in Game 1, will also call Game 2 from Chase Center in San Francisco on ABC. Hopefully, he doesn’t have any more unfortunate gaffes this time around.

Here's the Mark Jones wording in question. https://t.co/ESeJOnI95y pic.twitter.com/Sz9pepq0Kz

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 3, 2022

Per Marchand, ESPN lead NBA game analyst Jeff Van Gundy will be back on the call after missing Game 1 with COVID-19 alongside analyst Mark Jackson. During Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals, many viewers noted that Van Gundy sounded particularly rough, which made the eventual discovery that he had tested positive unsurprising.

No word yet on whether or not  NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, who also missed Game 1, will be back for this game.

According to the NY Post, Marchand said that the belief is that Breen feels fine but not well enough to get back behind the microphone for a full game. No word on whether or not he’s tested negative as well.

Game 3 takes place at TD Garden in Boston on Wednesday.

[Andrew Marchand]