5:50pm: Per Tim MacMahon of ESPN, Harden went straight to an eye doctor after the Rockets’ plane landed in Houston this afternoon and the team is optimistic he won’t have issues with his vision in Game 3 and beyond.
8:22am: After getting hit in the face by Draymond Green while fighting for a rebound in the first quarter of Tuesday’s game, Rockets star James Harden suffered an eye injury and left the game until midway through the second quarter. Harden was able to finish the game, but speaking later to reporters, including Janie McCauley of The Associated Press, he admitted that the eye drops he received to alleviate the discomfort only helped so much.
“I can barely see. Just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates,” Harden said. “It’s pretty blurry right now. Hopefully it gets better day by day.”
Despite playing with blurred vision and stinging eyes, Harden still managed to put up 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting in 34 minutes, though he did turn the ball over six times and finished with a -9 plus-minus in Houston’s second loss of the series.
“He fought through some stuff. The guy looked like he was not in great shape the first half, I think it might have cleared up a little bit,” head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But he got raked pretty good in the eyes. But that’s him. I didn’t have a doubt he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic. I’m sure he would have loved to have played better. Under the circumstances, I thought he played great.”
The good news for Harden and the Rockets is that there will be an unusually long three-day gap between Games 2 and 3, so the reigning MVP will have until Saturday to recover. As D’Antoni noted, Harden is extremely unlikely to miss any time due to the ailment, but the Rockets – already in a 2-0 hole – will be in trouble if he’s not at full strength going forward, so this will be something to watch closely for the rest of the series.
Cry baby …
Man people just love to hate greatness
36 points a game is greatness
He literally scored 29 points while BLIND.
The big assumption is he wasn’t “blind” and is just a crybaby overreacting to an eye poke that he got over within 30 seconds
Looked like a lot of 80’s era WWF melodrama to me. Blinking dramatically when he missed shots, squinting when his defense was poor, doing both and more when he knew the camera was on him before and at the FT line. Other times, when he was making shots, it did not appear to be as much of an issue.
Harden’s antics make the NBA an unwatchable clown show for anyone who truly loves the game of basketball.
He had a cut on his eye….
I guess he didn’t know where to kick his legs at defenders then.
If he didn’t cry so much about “unfair” officiating his eyes would be fine.
Draymond actually took a second rake at Harden when the first did not hit right.
Fouls to the head from bony body parts– fingers, forearms, elbows–should be evidence-based not intent-based. Also for the women’s game. Basing a foul on intention is a slippery slope. That would be a major rule-change though, actually several packaged rules, such as, to claim an eye-rake, the raked party has to keep their hands off their eyes until inspection. The game is likely to come to a stop anyway.
Draymond has a long history as a very dirty player. Tough player, sure.
But I’ll be happy when he starts getting suspended for the garbage he continues to get away with.
Do you honestly believe that was intentional?
Was Green caught by surprise? Was the ball within range of his swipe? Is he not in control of his hands? Does he mis-swipe like that if there’s no head there? Do you ever see him tapping the air with his fingers, arm extended? Why the second rake if the first one missed? Does he ever accidently strike teammates?
This is the third time this year he has poked the eyes of a player he has had scuffles with. James, Redickhttps://clutchpoints.com/warriors-news-draymond-green-poked-3-players-in-the-eye-over-the-past-year/
Wow, you’re serious. Ok.
“Also for for the women’s game”?
Care to elaborate on that, please?
Same restriction (evidence not intent: Either the strike happened or it didn’t). They could be the first with that interpretation because their faces are more valuable.
But the odds are immense against a rule change anywhere.
People think they’re accidents, or the popular phrase, “incidental”, meaning exactly what IDK. I think that’s BS.
In the mens game at least, heads are aimed for IMO, and advantages gained.
Maybe this is true, and if so good for harden for trying to fight through this. But it seems like the boy who cried wolf at this point. Harden and the rockets seem to have an endless list of excuses, so at this point I just dont care.
Yes, they should know this is playoff basketball time.
You as a reporter.
You: How did this injury affect your play.
Harden: well it was hard to see
You: STOP MAKING EXCUSES.
Dude. Funny. But I was the first on this page to blame Green not Harden. Then I referred to @Jkolti’s “endless list of excuses” bit which began with the shooting foul complaints.
Man Card-REVOKED!!!