Breen & Van Gundy’s Crazy Christmas Day Of Travel

Christmas Day, the NBA regular season finally debuted with a slate of five games. The riveting day of hoops included late game heroics from Carmelo Anthony and Derrick Rose, a ring ceremony/butt whooping in Dallas and Chris Paul’s Clipper debut at Golden State.

In addition to these impressive on court feats, the league’s 2011-2012 premiere also involved a remarkable achievement at the broadcast table, centered around the idea of witnessing a historic rematch and the coaching debut of a very close friend.

NBA on ABC/NBA on ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breenand color analyst Jeff Van Gundy began their hard day of work at American Airlines Center in the Victory Park neighborhood of Dallas, adjacent to the city’s downtown and uptown areas.

After witnessing NBA commissioner David Stern present the Mavericks with their championship rings, Breen and Van Gundy called the Heat’s 105-94 NBA Finals revenge victory over Dirk Nowitzki and company.

Immediately after the contest concluded, shortly before 4:30 pm Central, the broadcasting duo took the five mile trip from the AAC to Love Field, Dallas/Fort Worth’s secondary commercial and private airport. At which point, the two men boarded a private plane bound for Oakland. Approximately 3 hours and 40 minutes later, the flight’s 1,719 mile journey concluded as the jet touched down at Oakland International Airport.

Upon landing, Breen and Van Gundy were transported three short miles to Oakland’s ORACLE Arena, located in the same complex as the O.co Coliseum, the home of the Raiders and Athletics. The pair walked into the Warrior’s home venue about 90 minutes prior to tip off of Golden State’s matchup against Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and the Clippers.

The NBA’s “A” announcing team had achieved their goal of calling both the Mavs vs. Heat rematch and the head coaching debut of former broadcast colleague Mark Jackson. The Jackson coached Warriors squad went down to LA 105-86.

What a day for Breen and Van Gundy! 5 hours and 14 minutes of game action, 3 hours and 40 minutes of non television “air time” and luckily only about 20 minutes of automobile travel on the roadways of Dallas and Oakland.

In a lockout shortened season, this is the definition of a condensed schedule.