Draymond Green defends Harden: “It’s not his job to guard Brunson”

After the Game 1 loss against the Knicks, James Harden found himself under heavy criticism. And it’s not hard to see why: the New York Knicks erased a 22-point deficit by relentlessly attacking the 36-year-old’s defensive weaknesses. Harden finished with 15 points, 6 turnovers and rough shooting numbers, while the Knicks pulled out a 115-104 overtime win behind a spectacular performance from Jalen Brunson.

But not everyone blamed Harden. Draymond Green, the Warriors veteran and one of the NBA’s loudest voices, used his podcast The Draymond Green Show to passionately defend the former MVP while shifting the focus elsewhere.

“It’s not his job to defend Brunson one-on-one”

Draymond’s main point was straightforward: putting Brunson in isolation against Harden is a team mistake, not an individual one. According to Green, anyone who understands basketball should have expected the Knicks to attack the Cavaliers veteran that way – because teams have been doing it for years against any player with defensive limitations.

You can’t allow Jalen Brunson to live on an island against James Harden. Harden’s been in the league for 17 years, teams have tried this over and over again. You have to expect it

Draymond Green

For Draymond, the solution was simple: stop switching. Let Brunson deal with the first screen, then the second, without gifting him the exact matchup he wants. Instead, Cleveland kept switching every possession, giving Brunson the advantage with 17-19 seconds left on the shot clock instead of forcing him into late-clock situations.

Schroder yes, others no

According to Green, a major turning point came when Dennis Schroder left the floor. Up to that point, the German guard had been the only player willing to embrace the challenge and fight through screens instead of giving up the matchup.

Schroder was taking on that challenge. Once he came out, things got dark. The others don’t want that responsibility – they don’t want to fight over a screen and say, ‘This is my matchup. I want to stop this player’

Draymond Green

Draymond said he’s frustrated by a recurring playoff issue: players passively accepting every switch without showing the pride of wanting to defend their own matchup.

It’s not James Harden’s job to guard Jalen Brunson one-on-one. That’s not what he gets paid to do. The guys who keep switching – that’s their job

Draymond Green

The Stephen Curry comparison

Green then made it personal, explaining that the Warriors would never allow Stephen Curry to become a target in that situation. No automatic switches, no isolations against one of the opposing team’s best scorers.

With Steph, we never would’ve switched and just watched him get isolated against Harden. Why would you do that? It makes no sense

Draymond Green

He added that he personally would have done everything possible on the court – communication, pre-switches, positioning – to prevent Curry from defending alone for 12 straight dribbles.

After the game, Harden himself expressed a very similar sentiment to Green’s:

Brunson is one of the best one-on-one players in the league. If you leave a player alone against him, it’s going to be difficult for anybody

Draymond Green

Over the final eight minutes of the fourth quarter, with Harden as the primary defender, the Knicks star scored 13 of his 15 points in isolation situations, completely taking over the decisive possessions.

Now the focus shifts to Game 2 at Madison Square Garden, where Cleveland will need to find answers quickly if they want to stop Brunson from attacking the same mismatches with the same level of success.