Former Cleveland Cavaliers Champion Calls for James Harden to Be Benched

The Cleveland Cavaliers blew a 22-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Finals series against the New York Knicks.

The Knicks hunted for switches to put superstar point guard Jalen Brunson in 1-on-1 situations against James Harden down the stretch, and it paid off in a big way. Brunson scored 16 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter, and many of those buckets came with Harden as the primary defender.

Knicks head coach Mike Brown publicly admitted that the plan was to attack Harden as often as possible.

This situation led to some serious criticism against Harden and Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson.

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Former NBA veteran Channing Frye, a member of the Cavaliers’ championship-winning 2016 squad, weighed in with his thoughts on the matter during the most recent episode of the “Road Trippin’ Show” with Kendrick Perkins and Richard Jefferson.

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

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Atkinson said he never considered benching Harden down the stretch in Game 1.

"He's a good isolation defender. Always has been," Atkinson said.

Game 2 will tipoff at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday.

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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 10:30 AM.