{"id":633646,"date":"2026-05-09T22:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633646\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T22:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T22:23:10","slug":"draymond-green-gives-honest-defense-of-james-harden-after-playoff-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/633646\/","title":{"rendered":"Draymond Green Gives Honest Defense of James Harden After Playoff Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Draymond Green<\/a> is not ready to pile on James Harden<\/a> for his playoff struggles. While Harden has taken plenty of heat for the way things have gone against the Pistons<\/a>, Green believes the criticism needs more context.<\/p>\n

In his view, this is not just another case of Harden coming up short in the postseason. It is also about the matchup, with Detroit<\/a> throwing younger, longer, and more athletic defenders at him throughout the series. For Green, one tough series should not be used to dismiss Harden\u2019s entire resume or act like he suddenly forgot how to play.<\/p>\n

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During a recent episode of his show Green explained what he thinks is going on with Harden in the series against the Pistons.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cDuncan Robinson is not a great defender, but he\u2019s 6\u20197. You got 6\u20197 Cade, you got 6\u20197 Ausur Thompson long as hell and athletic, 6\u20198 Tobias, 7\u20190 Jalen Duren. Some to James struggles is due to that. All those guys are much younger than him\u2026. I think some of the criticism he\u2019s getting though is everybody is tying different years and series to this one. No, this I think is just a tough series for him\u2026 To tie it into everything and try to discredit who he is as a player and who he\u2019s been and the resume he\u2019s built, like come on man. Some series are just much tougher than others\u201d<\/p>\n

A Closer Look at James Harden\u2019 Struggles Against the Pistons<\/p>\n

James Harden\u2019s playoff noise is getting louder, and the numbers explain why.<\/p>\n

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Through the first two games against Detroit, Harden has shot just 9-of-28 from the field, which works out to 32.1%. He has 32 total points, but also 11 turnovers, and that balance is exactly what has people frustrated. For a player Cleveland<\/a> brought in to make life easier for Donovan Mitchell<\/a>, the Cavs<\/a> need cleaner possessions than this.<\/p>\n

Game 2 only made the conversation worse. Harden finished with 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting, missed all four of his three-point attempts, and gave the ball away four times. That is not enough from someone expected to be a steady playoff creator.<\/p>\n

\"ClevelandCleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) dribbles defended by Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris<\/a> (12) in the first half during game two of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs.Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The bigger issue is that Detroit is making him look uncomfortable. The Pistons\u2019 size, length, and athleticism have taken away some of his rhythm, and Harden has not consistently punished them for it. Instead of controlling the pace, he has looked rushed at times.<\/p>\n

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To be fair, Cleveland\u2019s problems are bigger than one player. The Cavs were awful from three late in Game 2, and Mitchell also struggled from deep. But Harden is naturally going to get the spotlight because this is exactly why Cleveland traded for him.<\/p>\n

Now Game 3 becomes a major response game. Harden does not need to be prime Houston Harden, but he does need to look like the veteran star Cleveland thought it was getting.<\/p>\n

Related: Lakers-Thunder Playoff Battle Has Shannon Sharpe Calling Out One Issue<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Lindys Sports<\/a> on May 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Lindys Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Draymond Green is not ready to pile on James Harden for his playoff struggles. While Harden has taken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[6250,852,2120,13054,13339,25167,148151,6418,355,53351,99,138056,148694],"class_list":["post-633646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-cavs","tag-cleveland","tag-detroit","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-draymond-green","tag-duncan-robinson","tag-jalen-duren","tag-james-harden","tag-nba","tag-pistons","tag-sports","tag-the-pistons","tag-tobias-harris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}