Rockets letting Harden play through wrist injury
OAKLAND Every year, there’s a different version of this same story.
As the NBA’s elite teams gear up for the postseason, there’s an individual award hanging in the balance or a teamwide regular- season record to chase that, in the end, matters far less than the prospect of winning a championship. So it goes for the Houston Rockets’ James Harden, who has a left wrist injury that is affecting his play yet is forging on in pursuit of more wins and the MVP award that he doesn’t want to see the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook rip from his grips.
But here’s the thing about Harden’s against- the- grain stance in today’s era of rest- and- recovery: With the Rockets widely seen as the kind of dark- horse title contender that could win it all if everything goes their way, the price that he and the team might pay for this come playoff time is simply too high to risk it anymore. Especially when Houston ( 5125) is all but guaranteed to be the third seed in the Western Conference and it’s so obvious that Harden isn’t himself. He needs to take a game or two off. The latest proof was tough to ignore, as he shot 4- for- 18 overall and 2- for- 9 from three- point range in the Rockets’ 107- 98 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Friday, suffering their first threegame losing streak of the season. The before and after numbers, meanwhile, only grew further apart.
Harden’s production in the 70 games before the injury, which he suffered March 18 against the Denver Nuggets and aggravated last Sunday against the Thunder: 29.2 points per game ( 44.6% shooting overall, 35.2% on three- pointers, 84.9% from the free throw line), 11.2 assists and 8.1 rebounds with a plus- minus mark of + 5.9.
In the six games since the initial injury: 28.3 points ( 39%, 25.8%, 88.9%), 10.8 assists and 7.6 rebounds per game with a plus- minus rating of - 0.2.
More than anything, it’s that threepoint shooting drop- off ( a 9.4% dip) that makes you wonder when the wrist will start flicking the right way again. But because Harden has been told by the team training staff that the injury should heal even as he plays, and because coach Mike D’Antoni is smart enough to know that forcing Harden to sit would be the wrong move when it comes to the dynamics of their so- far seamless partner- ship, he plays on.
The Rockets are leaving the decision on whether to play up to Harden.
“( Rest) for what?” Harden said with a confused look during an interview with USA TODAY Sports when asked about possibly sitting anytime soon. “It’s messing with my rhythm a little bit, not just tonight but the last week or so. But I’ll be all right. It’s a little ( frustrating). I’ll be all right. I’m strong enough.
“In life, there’s going to be some adversity. Things aren’t always going to go your way. It’s one of those points, and I’ve just got to figure out a way to fight through it. I think that’s what makes a man stronger and tougher.”
Asked if it was painful, Harden said, “Yeah, but what’s that?”
But as was the case midway through the third quarter, when the Warriors’ Draymond Green punched down on Harden’s ailing wrist after what he said afterward was an “adolescent” pinch of his midsection, playing through pain also means exposing yourself to the possibility of even more abuse. Therein lies the quandary for D’Antoni, who is well aware the Rockets need Harden at his absolute best for the next two months if they’re going to pull off the unexpected.
“He loves to play,” D’Antoni said before Friday’s game. “And he thinks he owes it to the people to play, and I think it’s remarkable. I think it’s great. Now we’ll watch, we get to the last two or three games we’ll have a week before, so maybe we can do something ( regarding rest) then, but we’ll make sure he’s ready to go when we open up the playoffs. But again, I trust him, I trust the medical staff.”
Until then, D’Antoni will keep doing what he’s been doing every day of late: Ask Harden how he feels, and hope against hope there aren’t regrets by season’s end.