The Houston Rockets and NBA fans alike held their collective breath when James Harden went down in the first quarter of Game 2 on Tuesday night, in clear pain and grabbing his face.
“I could barely see,” Harden told the media after the game when asked if the injury would be an issue for games going forward. “I just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates. It is pretty blurry right now. Hopefully, it gets better day by day.”
The incident came at the hand of Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who struck Harden across both eyes attempting to tap out a rebound.
Green doesn’t have a great reputation when it comes to injuries. And it turns out he’s poked two different players in the eyes over the past year, in addition to Harden: Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and Philadelphia 76ers’ J.J. Redick.
Harden certainly has had altercations with all three players before their respective eye incidents, too.
But, Green went up to Harden to apologize to him before he went back to the locker room, and he then expressed regret to the media in his postgame interview.
From ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Green said:
I made a mistake and hit him in his eye. Just [wanted] to check on him. It’s not about hurting anybody out here. So many times, people forget that when a guy [has] an injury, you live with that every day, every second of every day. It’s not just about this game.
When the game ended, we learned Harden had bleeding in both eyes and suffered a laceration on his left eyelid. He visibly was shaken up all game, often closing his left eye or squinting hard at the basket or the court. The reigning MVP still led the Rockets with 29 points on nine-of-19 shooting — his highest field goal percentage of the postseason.
The (sort of) good news is that despite being down 0-2, Harden and the Rockets have a few days off to regroup physically and mentally before Game 3 on Saturday back on their home court.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said postgame:
He got raked pretty good in the eyes, but that’s him. I mean, I didn’t have a doubt that he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic. I’m sure he would have loved to play better. Under the circumstances, I thought he played great.
According to MacMahon, Harden said he took eye drops to numb the pain.
It’s unclear what recovery methods Harden can go through before Saturday besides hoping the side effects subside.
