James Harden took an inadvertant shot to the face and went to the locker room during the first quarter of Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors.
Harden got poked in the left eye by Draymond Green and stayed down on the court through a timeout to be looked at by the team’s medical staff. He left the court holding a towel on his head and missed the rest of the quarter.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni was not sure what Harden’s status would be for the rest of the game but said he was “bleeding from the eye” during his between quarter interview with TNT’s Allie LaForce.
Harden returned to the Rockets’ bench during a timeout with 9:38 remaining in the second quarter and reentered the game with 7:09 to play. LaForce later reprted Harden was swiped across both eyes and suffered a lacerated left eyelid.
Harden finished with 29 points and seven rebounds in the Rockets’ 115-109 loss. However, his eyes were still red and bothering him postgame.
“It hurt,” Harden said. “I could barely see. Just try to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates. It’s pretty blurry right now. Hopefully it gets better day by day.
“Can’t see nothing. Barely can see.”
Harden’s eyes are especially sensitive to light. ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reports Harden squinted and shielded his eyes repeatedly throughout Game 2 and in his postgame news conference.
After the game, Green said he made a mistake and hit Harden in his eye. He checked on the Rockets’ star after the game and, in his postgame news conference said: “It’s not about hurting anybody out here. So many times people forget when a guy has an injury, you live with that every day, every second of every day. It’s not just about this game. If his eye is messed up, he’s got to live that every day. Just want to check on the guy.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
