Harden exits with hamstring injury
The Nets lost James Harden to a hamstring injury in Wednesday’s 120-108 win over the Rockets, but don’t think it will be a long-term absence. Considering their last star to get hamstrung — Kevin Durant — has missed seven weeks, they’d better hope for a quicker comeback.
“We’re gonna monitor it. We’ll see how he feels in the morning,” coach Steve Nash said of Harden. “I don’t have a lot to tell you, but we feel optimistic it’s not a long-term thing and we’ll just monitor it.”
Harden was facing off in Brooklyn against his former Houston team, and had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 27 minutes before telling the trainers his hamstring was tightening up. With Durant already sidelined by a strained hamstring, the Nets decided caution was the better part of valor.
With 4:48 left in the third, Harden was pulled and didn’t return. When Nash addressed the media postgame, he still hadn’t talked to Harden.
“No, I haven’t spoke to him yet,” Nash said. “I came in, addressed the team and came to speak to you guys. So I think he told the trainer when he was on the sideline, and they went back to look at it, and they just decided that it wasn’t worth risking it. And we’ll just see how it feels in the morning and go from there.”
When Harden had a sore neck on March 24, Nash said the Nets held him out to protect him from himself. The
Nets lost to Utah by 30.
His importance can’t be overstated, but he didn’t have an MRI or other imaging done Wednesday night. Harden’s status for Thursday’s game against Charlotte is up in the air.
“Yeah, they just decided that it was you know, wasn’t worth risking going back out there,” Nash. said “But we haven’t done any scans or anything. We’ll see how it feels in the morning and then decide what the next step is.”
Harden has carried the Nets with Durant having not played since Feb. 13 at Golden State. Kyrie Irving missed three straight before returning to action Monday, and he led Brooklyn to the win against Houston after Harden was pulled.
“Any time someone goes down, it’s very concerning,” Irving said. “Any time someone doesn’t play, we definitely have to have that mentality that we’re still gonna play at a very high level, so just gotta adjust, man. It’s not gonna get any easier, so when we’re out there, we obviously know the guys that are missing.
“Guys that — you say guys, but KD specifically — him missing significant time, we miss him. We can’t wait for him to get back, literally. But we’re all staying patient. We know what he brings to the table, we know the respect that he garners from all of us in terms of a leader on our team, but we’ve got to figure it out, game-to-game, until he’s back. James is out, for however long, and I pray he’s not, and we’ve just got to figure it out.”