Getty Houston Rockets guard James Harden
The scene early in Game 2 of the second-round NBA playoff matchup between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors brought obvious concern. Specifically, when Rockets star James Harden went down in obvious pain after taking a hit to the face from Draymond Green.
Harden remained on the ground while play continued on the other end of the floor. He did not immediately get up and the training staff was over to immediately tend to him. From there, Harden got up slowly before proceeding to head to the locker room. Here’s a look at how the situation played out, courtesy of Dime.
Oh no. James Harden is down after taking a hit from Draymond… t.co/7OzmRLTT0U
After the incident, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon pointed out that the entire Rockets training staff was tending to Harden, who remained down. He followed that up by citing that Harden went to the locker room with an ice pack covering his left eye.
James Harden headed to the locker room with an ice pack covering his left eye after taking a shot to the face. He was down in the lane for a couple of minutes.
The positive news is that it’s believed Harden was poked in the eye, and that it’s not something more serious at this point. With that said, there’s been no official confirmation from the team on that, and they also haven’t revealed the outlook for Harden and chances that he returns to the game.
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After the first quarter wrapped up, Rockets head coach Mike D’Antonio spoke on the TNT broadcast and revealed that Harden was bleeding from his eye. He also did not address the likelihood that Harden would return to the game.
James Harden Injury Update
In positive news which came roughly two minutes into the second quarter, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports revealed that Harden is expected to return to Tuesday’s game.
Houston guard James Harden will return to tonight’s game.
At the first break in play after this, Harden was seen returning to the bench. From there, it appeared he was walking towards the scorer’s table but did not wind up returning to the game immediately. Instead, he went to the bench and put his warmup back on following the break in play.
Allie LaForce explained on the broadcast that Harden was hit in both eyes but has a laceration on his left eyelid. She proceeded to point out that the reason he has not returned to the floor immediately is likely due to the fact that he’s dealing with blurred vision.
Harden checked back into the game at the 7:09 mark of the second quarter.
Draymond Green Apologizes After Hitting James Harden
As Harden was heading back to the locker room after taking the hit from Green which appeared accidental, the Warriors forward was spotted talking to him. As Def Pen Hoops stated, it seems Green apologized to Harden for the incident.
Draymond Green was spotted apologizing to Harden after striking him in the face
Prior to the injury, Harden had failed to get on the board while sitting with zero points still in six minutes played. He was 0-for-3 from the field with one rebound and two turnovers. At the end of the first quarter, the reigning MVP remained in the locker room as the Rockets trailed 29-20. Aside from Chris Paul (eight points), no player on Houston had more than three points through the first frame.
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