Draymond Green Tears Into Cavs After James Harden Takes Heat for Jalen Brunson’s 4th Qtr Takeover

James Harden was blamed for allowing Jalen Brunson to dominate the fourth quarter and overtime in Game 1.

Draymond Green Tears Into Cavs After James Harden Takes Heat for Jalen Brunson’s 4th Qtr Takeover

Draymond Green, Jalen Brunson and James Harden (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • The Knicks exploited James Harden's defensive weaknesses by switching Jalen Brunson onto him in the fourth quarter.
  • Draymond Green criticized the Cavaliers for not stepping up to defend against Brunson, placing blame on the team's lack of effort.
  • Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson supported Green's view, emphasizing that the team's defense, not just Harden, was responsible for the loss.

The New York Knicks utilized the one trick in the book that head coach Mike Brown knew of to tilt Game 1 to their side. Switch Jalen Brunson on James Harden and let him exploit the matchup.

The 36-year-old is one of the best shooters in the history of the league and is rightfully in the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. But his defense is suspect.

Over the years, as he has gotten slower, the problem has amplified to the extent where the Knicks utilized it to their advantage. On almost every possession in the fourth quarter, they switched to put Brunson in a position to attack Harden 1-on-1.

The strategy worked, with the Knicks’ point guard single-handedly drawing his team from a deficit to win in overtime. After the game, a lot of the blame was pointed at the former league MVP, but Draymond Green does not believe that criticism is justified.

When you’re trying to compete at a championship level, you must have guys that want to take on that challenge and say “I’m not switching at this point in the game”… It is not James Harden’s job to guard Jalen Brunson 1-on-1. It’s not what he’s paid to do.

Draymond Green said on his namesake podcast

The former Defensive Player of the Year knows a thing or two about that aspect of the sport. He probably also knows switching better than anyone in the league, as his Warriors were the first to implement it more than a decade ago. That is why he placed the blame on the rest of the Cavaliers.

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Draymond Green continues to flame Cavs for placing James Harden in a bad spot

The reason Draymond Green went hard into criticizing the Cavaliers was when he saw how none of the players wanted to take over the job of guarding Jalen Brunson.

Dennis Schroder wanted to take on that challenge. He was taking on that challenge. When Schroder left the game, things got a little bleak. Because you got guys in there that don’t really want that challenge, they don’t want to fight through the screen and say that’s my matchup, I want to stop this guy. They don’t do it.

Draymond Green said

The 36-year-old went on to explain how he would not want Stephen Curry to do what James Harden was forced to do in Game 1. He and the Warriors will need their top scorer to be fresh and ready for late-game scoring.

The Cavaliers, to him, are the reason James Harden became tired. Not only was he trying to initiate offense, but keeping up with Brunson drained him. That is why he believes the 11-time All-Star could not score baskets late in the game.

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James Harden’s head coach defends him against critics

Draymond Green’s opinion will hold weight, as there is no doubt he is one of the better defenders in league history. However, reporters at Madison Square Garden wanted to know what Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson thought about the entire discourse.

Jalen Brunson attacking James Harden 1-on-1 in Game 1
Jalen Brunson attacking James Harden 1-on-1 in Game 1 (Image via Fanteractive/X)

He’s (James Harden) a good isolation defender… I was a little more upset with our back-line defense… This is team defense… Everybody’s putting it on James, I would say a lot of it was on the team… Sure, some of it was him… Sometimes micro experiences get exaggerated.

Kenny Atkinson told reporters

The ex-Warriors’ assistant basically agreed with his former player. The other Cavaliers players let James Harden down. Had they stepped up and helped him, they would not have lost a game that was firmly in their hands.

If Atkinson’s opinion holds weight, Game 2 at MSG will prove whether the team responds to his and Green’s criticism and help them even the series.

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