The New York Knicks mounted a 22-point fourth-quarter comeback to steal Tuesday’s Game 1 from the Cleveland Cavaliers by relentlessly attacking Cleveland guard James Harden. “It was no secret,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said afterward. “We were attacking Harden.”
The Knicks increased the frequency of screens on Harden as the game wore on. They used no picks on him in the first quarter and only six through the first three quarters, but deployed 16 screens in the fourth, according to GeniusIQ tracking. New York targeted Harden with 27 total picks, the most he has defended in a single game in his 17-year career; no guard has been screened more often in a playoff quarter in the tracking era, which began in 2013-14, per GeniusIQ.
The Cavaliers repeatedly allowed switches and did not consistently prevent Brunson from attacking Harden. In one sequence, Cleveland switched even though the screen from Mikal Bridges did not make contact with forward Dean Wade. Coach Kenny Atkinson called a timeout late in the fourth to alter the approach; Cleveland then began doubling Brunson, which curtailed his scoring but opened driving and rotation lanes for Bridges and OG Anunoby.
With the Knicks down by two in the final 30 seconds after a clutch bucket from Harden at the other end, New York returned to the same screen-based strategy. Cleveland again switched before a screen made contact and Brunson converted a tying floater. The Knicks carried that momentum into overtime and closed out the comeback.
