Cavaliers HC Kenny Atkinson Strongly Defends James Harden
The Cleveland Cavaliers can put this narrative to bed with a win over the New York Knicks in a few hours.
But for now, the Cavaliers are defined by squandering a 22-point fourth-quarter lead and losing to the Knicks, 115-104, in overtime of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference Finals on Tuesday night.
Knicks All-Star guard Jalen Brunson took over the fourth quarter, and the Knicks got Cavaliers All-Star guard James Harden to switch as the iso defender on Brunson several times. Brunson, to put it lightly, cooked Harden each and every time.
Usually, Harden is criticized for his lack of scoring or abundance of turnovers in closeout games in the playoffs, but the 2018 NBA MVP has been under fire for his defense over the past 48 hours. Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson isn’t having it.
“The thing about James, I’ll just defend him, he’s a good isolation defender,” Atkinson said Wednesday, per Cleveland 19 News’ Leah Doherty. “Always has been. He’s super smart. I said it last night, he’s got great hands. I was kind of a little more upset with our backline defense. He had two or three really tough shots on him, but then, I think the baseline drive where our low guy didn’t come over and get a contest, this is team defense. At this level, it’s team defense.”
Atkinson added, “I know everybody is putting it on James, but I’d say a lot of it is on the team - our team defense. And we were great for three quarters. Like, really, really great, so we can do it. Sure, some of it was him. There was a couple blow-bys. But, again, I’d argue it was on the team defense.”
It’s lost to the sands of time now, but Harden could have been the Game 1 hero if the game ended after his jump shot to put Cleveland up 101-99 with 31 seconds to go in the fourth. But then, Brunson blew by Harden on the other end of the floor to hit a floater that tied it at 101. Basketball is cruel.
Atkinson is correct that the Cavaliers were excellent through three quarters of Game 1. But it’ll be an uphill battle to recapture that rhythm in Game 2 and beyond after suffering such a catastrophic collapse in the fourth quarter, leading to the biggest playoff comeback in the Knicks franchise history.
The Cavaliers were already fighting an uphill battle entering this Eastern Conference Finals series. The Knicks haven’t lost a playoff game since April 23, while the Cavaliers have been pushed to a Game 7 by the Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons in the previous two rounds.
The winner of this series will face either the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder or the Victor Wembanyama-led San Antonio Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 9:17 PM.