Harden sidelined with strained hamstring
James Harden will miss at least two games because of a hamstring injury, starting with Houston’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night.
Harden didn’t practice on Thursday after leaving Wednesday night’s loss to Utah after experiencing tightness in the hamstring in the fourth quarter.
General manager Daryl Morey said Thursday that Harden had a Grade 1-Plus hamstring strain and that he’d sit out on Friday and Tuesday against Portland before being re-evaluated.
Harden scored 29 points Wednesday night in the 100-89 defeat that dropped the Rockets to 1-3 before heading to the locker room with just more than five minutes remaining.
Harden missed seven games last season with a Grade 2 hamstring strain and said after the game this was not the same type of injury.
“It’s nothing serious. Nothing serious,” he said. “It’s not close to last year. Just being cautious.”
Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Kevin Love missed Thursday night’s game against the Pistons with a sore left foot, another blow to a winless Cleveland team.
Love missed three preseason games with an unspecified injury in the same foot. He was favoring his foot following Wednesday’s home loss to Brooklyn, and after traveling with the team to Detroit, the Cavs ruled him out several hours before tip-off.
It’s not yet known if he will be able to play Saturday night against the Indiana Pacers.
Love is one of only three players left from Cleveland’s 2016 NBA title team. He’s averaging 19.0 points and 13.5 rebounds, but is shooting just 32.3 percent from the field. He signed a $120 million contract extension this summer.
Chicago Bulls forward Bobby Portis will miss four to six weeks because of a moderately sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.
The Bulls announced Thursday he is out until at least late November.
Portis — averaging 10.5 points in his fourth season — joined a lengthy list of injured Chicago players.
Point guard Kris Dunn suffered a similar injury to his left knee on Monday. Lauri Markkanen is out until at least mid-November because of an elbow injury. And Denzel Valentine (sprained left ankle) has not played.