Knicks Announcers Top NBA Fan Ratings

When it came to grades from NBA basketball viewers, Mike Breen and Walt "Clyde" Frazier were leading and succeeding.

A poll from Awful Announcing, which offered viewers a chance to grade local NBA announcers, was paced by MSG Network's long-running tandem and their assistants: MSG's team (which also featured backup Kenny Albert, Jamal Crawford, Alan Hahn, Tyler Murray, and Wally Szczerbiak) had an average grade of 3.50 to lead the groups.

Graded on a A-to-F scale (with A gaining four points and descending from there), Breen, Frazier, and Co. received the most overall votes of any team (467) and over 70 percent gave them an A. In fact, only less than six percent of respondents gave them a grade lower than a C, allowing them to handily lead the way on the Association airwaves.

"Overall ... there was considerable praise for the Breen and Frazier duo," accompanying analysis from Andrew Bucholtz reads. 'That included “Breen and Clyde are the best,' 'need their own 'S' option (Breen a cheat code),' and 'like a comfy shoe, you know what to expect and they deliver.'"

Breen and Frazier have been MSG's top tandem for over two decades. The two have frequently lauded their partnership, which dates back to calling Knicks games on the radio for WFAN the mid-to-late 1990s.

Some have wondered how much longer Frazier, who turned 80 in March, can go on styling and profiling his way to MSG's broadcast table on a nightly basis. Frazier has no plans of walking away any time soon but it appears the ears of Knicks fans are in good hands with the talent they've stashed behind him, as Buchholtz noted that "many did like the backups overall."

It was a metropolitan sweep atop the NBA rankings, as the Brooklyn Nets' group on YES Network, headlined by Ian Eagle and Sarah Kustok, was in the runner-up spot with a grade of 3.41. Chicago, Portland, and Charlotte rounded out the top five.

MSG Network will air at least two more Knicks games this season, as it'll be on the air for Games 3, 4, and (if necessary) 6 of the Knicks Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Detroit Pistons.