Hubie Brown called his final NBA game on ESPN this past Sunday afternoon as the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers and was awarded the game ball following the conclusion of the contest. Brown received tributes from those around the league throughout the game as he sat courtside behind the microphone from Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., the city in which he started his NBA coaching career as an assistant under Larry Costello.
Brown joined ESPN in 2004 and served as its lead analyst for two NBA Finals. Over the years, he has worked with a variety of play-by-play announcers, many of whom sent their regards in the final contest, and he had a chance to reunite with Mike Breen for one final time on the broadcast itself.
After coaching for the Atlanta Hawks, Brown started broadcasting for USA Network and CBS Sports prior to being hired by the New York Knicks. Once he moved on from the organization in 1987, he made his return and worked on regular season and playoff contests with Verne Lundquist and Dick Stockton. Once CBS lost broadcast rights to the NBA when NBC bid $600 million for the property, he worked on local broadcasts for the Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons before later joining TNT, where he spent over a decade. Brown briefly returned to coaching with the Memphis Grizzlies for three years, but he resigned from the job in the fall of 2004 after “unexpected health-related issues.”
Brown is in the midst of his 51st season associated with the NBA, and he has either coached or broadcast games for 80% of every player who has ever suited up in the league. During the broadcast, players from both teams shook his hand and he received a standing ovation from the Milwaukee crowd. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member has covered 18 NBA Finals throughout his illustrious career, and ESPN displayed highlights throughout his broadcasting career interspersed within the broadcast. Once the game concluded, Breen voiced that he hoped everyone on the call made him understand how much he means to them and understood that it could be difficult to put into words.
“My father, [the] best man I ever met, said a thing when I was a grammar-school kid playing sports,” Brown reminisced. “‘Never give less than 100,’ and when you think about that, it sounds easy. It’s difficult. Times get tough, but you want to, as a coach, never come to practice without being a plus-factor for every one of your players. You want to treat them with respect, and then when you get into television, you’re in a whole new ballgame.”
Brown emphasized that the broadcast goes beyond a two-person act in television, citing the producers and directors in the truck that play a pivotal role in executing the presentation. From there, he thanked those he worked with in the coaching ranks on behalf of his family and articulated how meaningful it was to end his sports media career calling a game in Milwaukee since he learned so much working with the team.
“Today is humbling – very humbling – because you come to work and you want to give everybody 100, but you don’t realize the lives that you cross when you do 50 years of this and then two years in the ABA where we had a great team, and that was 52 years in the pros,” Brown said. “But thank all the management for having faith in me, allowing me to coach, and then I want to thank all of the companies in television.”
Upon recalling the path he took in the sports media industry, Brown conveyed how much he has to be thankful for and looked to reciprocate the love and appreciation being sent towards him and his family. Brown also addressed Breen and said that guys like him make it easy because of how prepared he approaches every game. In the end, he felt the best thing to say was ‘Thank you’ and outlined the approach he took in communicating with the audience.
“We tried to come to every game prepared, and we tried to be able to show you the difference between the weak side and the strong side and why things happen on one side and not the other, and then who’s doing what, who’s not doing [what] so that we never underestimate the IQ of the audience, but we want to help improve that they can see the other side of the floor where a lot of action is happening, so thanks for your patience, fans,” Brown said. “Today was a wonderful day for my family because they’re all here today, and I love you all and thank you for the opportunity from management.”
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