San Francisco—Houston star James Harden, who suffered a lacerated left eyelid in the Rockets’ NBA playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, is hoping three days of rest will have him seeing clearly for their next encounter.
“It’s pretty blurry right now,” said Harden, who was swiped in the face by the Warriors’ Draymond Green as they battled for a rebound in the first quarter of Golden State’s 115-109 victory.
“Hopefully it gets better day by day,” added Harden, whose Rockets host game three of the best-of-seven second-round Western Conference series on Saturday aiming to start digging out of an 0-2 hole.
Harden returned after receiving treatment—including drops to numb pain in his eyes—and led the Rockets with 29 points.
But despite the drops, he could be seen squinting and grimacing in the bright lights.
“He got raked pretty good in the eyes,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “But that’s him—I didn’t have a doubt he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic.”
It certainly looked bad enough as Harden dropped to the court and stayed there—a hand to his eyes—until the Rockets called a timeout so he could get medical treatment.
Green spoke to Harden as he departed the court with a compress on his face.
Green said he just wanted to check on Harden after the inadvertent contact.
“It’s not about hurting anyone out here,” Green said. “A lot of people forget when a guy has an injury you live that every second of every day and it’s not just about this game. So if his eye is messed up, he’s got to live that every day, so I wanted to check on the guy.”
Meanwhile, Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant says Harden makes clever use of NBA rules but does not cheat the game.
Durant, speaking to reporters on Tuesday before the Warriors took on the Rockets in game two of their Western Conference second-round playoff series, said Houston’s prolific scorer Harden has developed an effective way to pressure opposing defenses.
“He’s always been clever at getting to the paint and using his strength to bump guys off,” Durant said of the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player Harden. “I think it’s, more so than anything, putting pressure on the defense.
“I think that’s what he’s always been doing. I wouldn’t say that he has an advantage. I think everybody, once they get into the lane, they use little tricks to try to get their shots off. He may bump guys off going to the rim, but everybody does that.”
The Rockets were angered by the officiating in their 104-100 game-one loss to the Warriors, Harden himself suggesting refs had not given Houston a “fair chance” in the defeat as he cited several non-calls on his three-point attempts.
But their complaints put Harden’s style of play in the spotlight with some suggesting that he manipulated his body in a bid to provoke foul calls on defenders.
“I just think that he has a style of play, and it might not be what everybody might like to see, but it’s been effective and I don’t think he’s been cheating the game at all,” Durant said.
“I think he plays inside the game, plays within the rules of the game. Referees aren’t going to be perfect all game, just like players aren’t.”