Cavaliers Champion Urges Kenny Atkinson to Bench James Harden: "Learn How to Play Defense"

Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals ended on a high note, at least for the New York Knicks. For most of Game 1, the Cleveland Cavaliers dominated the Knicks. Come the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers led by as much as 22 points, seemingly securing their victory. However, James Harden arguably cost Cleveland the game with his poor defense.

Knicks head coach Mike Brown recognized Harden's defensive lapses and told Jalen Brunson to keep attacking him. The result? Brunson went on a scorching-hot scoring run, sending the game to overtime and ultimately winning it for New York, 115-104. Former Cavaliers champion Channing Frye had a lot to say about Harden's lackluster defense. In a recent episode of "The Road Trippin' Show", Frye ranted about how Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson still allowed Harden to play despite clearly getting destroyed by Brunson.

"I’m going to tell you this right now, if I’m the coach and I’m in the Eastern Conference Finals and he's playing like that. Brother, listen, I got to take some food off your plate because you’re taking food off mine. If I play you, I’m getting fired; you’re getting paid," Frye said. "It’s you or me. What are we talking about? Give me the big piece of chicken, you go sit down, till you learn how to play defense."

It's worth noting that Harden allowed Brunson to score 1.9 points per possession in the fourth quarter. As a screen defender in both the fourth quarter and overtime, Harden allowed 1.6 points per possession in 21 sequences.

Brunson took full advantage of the situation and sank seven out of 11 shot attempts while directly being defended by Harden.

With that in mind, Cavs coach Atkinson might want to review the film and consider utilizing another player to match up against Brunson. Cleveland's priority right now is to ensure that Brunson doesn't catch fire, especially not late in the game when he could turn things around.

While everyone's eyebrows are raised towards the Cavaliers, they still showed positive results in Game 1. Dominating the majority of the game means that they have what it takes to take the Knicks to their limit.

If they could address their defensive lapses and replicate their impressive offensive showing on Tuesday, the Cavs could still take Game 2.

Warriors Champion Blames Cavs Over James Harden

Throughout James Harden's 17-year career in the NBA, he's become notorious for giving up on defense too easily. His superb talent on offense is equivalent to his poor defense.

Apparently, Golden State Warriors veteran Draymond Green acknowledges Harden's lack of defensive effort. After watching Game 1 on Tuesday, Green pointed out on his podcast that the blame shouldn't be on Harden. He instead pointed fingers at his teammates.

Everyone, at this point, already knows where Harden struggles on the hardwood. With that said, the Cleveland Cavaliers should've already made adjustments by switching someone else to defend Jalen Brunson.

"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,'" Green said.

"But you got guys in there that don't really want that challenge, they don't wanna fight through the screen and say, 'This my matchup, I wanna stop this guy,'" Green added. "It is not James Harden's job to guard Jalen Brunson 1-on-1, it's not what he's paid to do, some of those other guys who's just switching off, it is your f***ing job."

Whatever the case may be, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson might want to consider what everyone is rambling about in Game 2. Be it doubling with a help defender alongside Harden or having someone else guard Brunson; that's up to him to decide. For now, we'll have to wait and see what adjustments the Cavs make on Thursday.