Stephen A. Smith eviscerates James Harden in wild Jalen Brunson praise

The New York Knicks deserve all the credit in the world for locking in and turning it up in the fourth quarter after going down by 22 points, 93-71, with 7:45 to go in regulation in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Finals clash against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the Cavs have to be kicking themselves — especially with James Harden being an actively detrimental presence on both ends of the floor.

Harden had just 15 points on 5-16 shooting from the field, which wasn’t already very good to begin with. On top of that, he had six turnovers, including a backbreaking one in overtime. But to top it all off, his poor defense on Jalen Brunson killed the Cavs, as the Knicks were wise to this and made sure that Harden got himself switched onto Brunson every chance they got.

It got so bad that Stephen A. Smith put Harden on blast while praising Brunson for powering the Knicks to a 115-104 OT victory in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“Jalen Brunson goes ballistic and literally should be arrested for the assault that he put on James Harden. Just abused him at every single turn. Annihilated him kept going by him scored like 5 or 6 straight baskets,” Smith said on SportsCenter, via Oh No He Didn’t on X (formerly Twitter).

Stephen A: "Jalen Brunson goes ballistic and literally should be arrested for the assault that he put on James Harden. Just abused him at every single turn. Annihilated him kept going by him scored like 5 or 6 straight baskets" https://t.co/DC6BBs5TVg pic.twitter.com/1HM0uqJrLj

— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) May 20, 2026

It got so brutal for the Cavs; Harden was involved in the majority of plays on the defensive end against the Knicks, and on those possessions, New York scored 1.6 points per — an insane mark.

The Cavs need Harden’s offensive contributions, but there comes a point, especially with Cleveland on the high side, where they should have taken him out considering how much of a liability he was out there. Nonetheless, Brunson deserves credit for making plenty of buckets when the team needed him to, and now, they have a 1-0 lead in the series.

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