Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson came to the defense of James Harden’s defense.

A day after Jalen Brunson repeatedly scored on Harden down the stretch of the Knicks’ come-from-behind 115-104 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Atkinson contended his veteran point guard was receiving too much blame.

“He’s a good isolation defender. Always has been,” Atkinson said Wednesday on the eve of Game 2 at Madison Square Garden.

“He’s super smart … He’s got great hands. I was a little more upset with our back-line defense. … [Brunson] hit a tough two or three, really tough shots on him, but then on the baseline drive, our low guy didn’t come over and get a contest. This is team defense. At this level, it’s team defense.”

Once the Knicks fell behind 93-71 with 8:19 remaining in Game 1’s fourth quarter, Brunson began hunting Harden.

On eight straight possessions, the player that Harden was defending set a screen, repeatedly resulting in Harden switching onto Brunson.

Brunson scored six baskets against Harden in the final eight minutes of regulation, many of them on drives, including the baseline floater that tied the game, 101-101, with 19.3 seconds remaining.

“He made some tough ones, but obviously we all know he’s a great one-on-one player,” Harden said afterward. “I think [with] anybody on an island, it’s going to be difficult, so we’ve got to do a better job of making sure he sees bodies.”

Brunson scored 16 points in the fourth quarter, and he added another basket against Harden in overtime.

All told, Brunson finished with a game-high 38 points on 15-of-29 shooting. For the game, Brunson shot 8-of-12 on possessions in which Harden was the defender, according to the NBA’s head-to-head tracking data.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to do what the game dictates, and they were trying to do the same thing with Jalen, so we said, ‘OK, we feel like we can play that game,’” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said.

“Just like we have to try to figure out different ways to guard Harden and [Donovan] Mitchell, they’ve got to figure out different ways to guard Jalen. But there’s no secret we were attacking Harden.”

Brunson’s scoring surge keyed an 18-1 run by the Knicks, who outscored Cleveland 44-11 over the game’s final 13 minutes, including overtime.

“Different coverages in different ways, maybe we could have gotten to it a little earlier, kind of get it out of Brunson’s hands, because I think that’s something we can adjust to,” said Mitchell, who scored only three of his team-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

“But ultimately, this isn’t on [Harden]. It’s on all of us, right? This isn’t just because of a certain stretch. No, we still had opportunities on the other end as well to take advantage and score, and we didn’t.”

Atkinson said he was more disappointed by the Cavaliers’ stagnant fourth-quarter offense than he was by their defense.

“Fourth quarter, [the Knicks] were in the first percentile of shot quality,” Atkinson said. “We have data you guys don’t have. First percentile. So, our process was right. They made some tough, tough shots.”

The Cavaliers acquired the 36-year-old Harden in a win-now February trade that sent All-Star point guard Darius Garland — who is 26 but often injured — to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Before Game 1, Atkinson lauded the addition of the playmaking Harden while acknowledging Cleveland still wasn’t a “well-oiled machine” less than three months after his arrival.

Harden scored 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting with four rebounds, three assists and six turnovers in Game 1.

“I said, ‘Without you, we’re knocked out in the first round.’ That’s my personal opinion,” Atkinson said. “So, let’s just stop there. ‘We’re in a great position. You’ve played great, and sometimes micro-experiences get exaggerated, so keep being yourself.’ ”