NBA Click & Roll: James Harden 'could barely see' after injuring eyes
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'I COULD BARELY SEE'
Paste BN Sports' Martin Rogers weighs in on the Game 2 injuries to James Harden and Steph Curry. Check out the full story at nba.usatoday.com.
OAKLAND – Even an hour after the Houston Rockets slipped to a Game 2 defeat that put them into an 0-2 deficit in the conference semifinals, James Harden was still struggling.
Walking behind Chris Paul into a post-game news conference, Harden held his hand over his left eye. Harden dealt with bleeding in both eyes, including a lacerated left eyelid, following an accidental poke from the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green on Tuesday night.
As Harden sat down to address the press, he squinted uncomfortably, shielding his eyes from the bright lights of the podium, and explained how the first-quarter injury had affected him.
“I could barely see,” Harden said. “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.”
Harden had to leave the court after the contact with Green left him on the Oracle Arena floor clutching his face. When he came back in the second he managed to put together a 29-point performance as Houston battled hard before falling 115-109.
Both Green and Kevin Durant came to check on Harden as he left the floor in the first quarter, although it is not clear how welcome Green’s apology was.
“What do you want me to say?” Harden said. “He asked me if I was alright. I said, 'Yeah.'"
“I made a mistake and hit him in his eye,” Green had said, minutes earlier. “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 is not just about the game.”
The Warriors had an injury scare of their own when Stephen Curry left the floor with a gruesome-looking finger injury early, but he returned quickly. After evaluation, it emerged Curry’s middle finger on his left hand was dislocated, not broken, and despite favoring it a little, it did not seem to overly affect his performance.
CATCH UP AROUND THE LEAGUE
— ESPN reported that the Rockets filed a memo to the league that claimed referees "likely changed" last season's champion. According to the report, the Rockets audited Game 7 of the 2018 Western Conference finals and determined that 81 instances took away 18.6 points from Houston. Yikes...
— The Celtics looked like a title-caliber team in Game 1, but the Bucks responded with an impressive win of their own in Game 2. So did the Sixers, who are tied 1-1 in their series with Toronto. As for the fourth series? All hail Nikola Jokic.
— A moment of silence for Celtics legend John Havlicek, who on Thursday died at the age of 79. Rest easy, Hondo.
— Meet James Butler, the key to the 76ers' championship dreams.
— This security guard just became the best meme of the playoffs.
— Steve Kerr compared Kevin Durant's recent dominance to an ex-teammate of his — "Michael, something" — and dubbed KD the "most-skilled basketball player on Earth."
— Joel Embiid found a very ... honest ... way to explain his stomach illness after Game 2.
— Oh, look, an awkward moment involving Kawhi Leonard.
— Yo ... 76ers Banner Fan ... sit down!!!
— Coach K was in Atlanta over the weekend to watch 14-year-old LeBron "Bronny" James Jr. play.
— What's that? You haven't seen the pictures of Jaylen Brown dunking all over Giannis Antetokounmpo? Here ya go. You're welcome.
— Speaking of Brown, his old tweet about a teacher saying he'd end up in jail went viral for an awesome reason. He then went on to praise teachers while addressing the tweet.
— Shaq's line after threatening to knock out Charles Barkley had Ernie Johnson in tears.
PLAYOFF GALLERIES GALORE
— Cheerleaders, fans and mascots
Check back next week for everything that went down in the Association.