I’m trying to figure out what the threshhold is for Mike Breen to exclaim “BANG!” as opposed to “it’s good!” as opposed to something prosaic like “____ with the three-pointer.” When Kadeem Allen hit a go-ahead three with seven minutes to go in the game, I thought we might get treated to a signature Breen “BANG!”, but we got “it’s good!” instead.
The heirarchy of Breen sayings is well-established at this point:
1. BANG!
2. Ho-ho, it’s good!
2.5. It’s good!
3. [anything else]
4. [silence]
Multiple BANG!s are obviously reserved for the most amazing occurrences only. Somebody like Kadeem Allen is unlikely to ever deserve multiple BANG!s. But one BANG! is not out of the question for him. I think that, if his go-ahead three-pointer had happened with three or fewer minutes left to go in the game, he would have prompted a BANG! from Breen, and it would have been a well-deserved BANG!
“It’s good!” is appropriate for any shot made after an especially frantic possession, or any shot that caps off a large run by the scoring team, or a shot that is clutch but which does not take the lead. That’s my take on it, anyway. This is the first time that I’m broaching this question with the needed scholarly approach. I need to give it some more consideration, but this video description is a good start for my upcoming peer-reviewed research paper on the topic.