James Harden was forced to go to the locker room in the first quarter of Game 2 of the Rockets-Warriors second-round series. Harden appeared to take an inadvertent finger to the eye from Draymond Green.
Draymond inadvertently pokes Harden in the eye going for loose ball. Harden in #pain pic.twitter.com/bFFV8W9w4h
— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) May 1, 2019
Harden went down immediately and stayed down as action moved to the other end of the court. He eventually got up and walked to the locker room with an ice pack over his eye.
Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni noted during an in-game interview that the MVP candidate was bleeding from his eye but Harden ultimately returned to the bench with just under 10 minutes left in the second quarter. Ultimately, the Rockets deemed Harden's injury to be a laceration to the left eyelid, but he was able to return to the game before the end of the half.
Rockets told me Harden has a laceration on his left eye lid. Is back out on bench. Going to see how he feels and could potentially play again soon. @HoustonRockets @NBAonTNT
— Allie LaForce (@ALaForce) May 1, 2019
Moments before Harden went down, Steph Curry had gone to the locker room with what Allie LaForce of TNT confirmed as a dislocated middle finger, but Curry has since returned to the game with his fingers taped. The Rockets will need their superstar for any shot at dethroning the defending champs.
