Warriors Not Taking James Harden's Eye Injury Seriously, Rockets Confirm Laceration

The Golden State Warriors are not buying the seriousness of James Harden’s eye injury despite confirmation that the Houston Rockets star suffered a lacerated left eye. The point guard sustained the injury midway through the first quarter of his team’s 115-109 loss in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Harden went down with the eye injury following a swipe on his face from Draymond Green, and after staying down for a while, he was escorted to the locker room. He returned to court with just over nine minutes remaining in the second quarter and entered the game two minutes later.

The 2018 MVP ended the night with 29 points and seven rebounds, but it was clear he was suffering as he constantly shielded his eyes from the light. Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed after the game that Harden’s eyes were bleeding when he went off and the player himself confirmed that he could barely see.

"It hurt. I could barely see. Just try to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates. It's pretty blurry right now. Hopefully it gets better day by day," Harden said, as quoted on NBA.com. "Can't see nothing. Barely can see."

The Warriors, however, according to senior NBA insider Chris Haynes, were not buying the seriousness of the injury. The reigning champions’ locker room was said to be unconcerned about the possibility of Harden missing Game 3 as they were certain the injury was minimal.

“There are few players in that [Warriors] locker room that are not buying the whole James Harden eye being extremely hurt. They were talking about some of the shots he was shooting during the game and then when he got to the free throw line he was squinting like he can’t see,” Haynes said on Yahoo Sports’ “The Spin”.

“They are not buying it and are not taking anything for granted when they [Warriors] travel to Houston for Game 3. This series is far from over,” he added.

Meanwhile, Green, who caused Harden’s injury, made it clear he was not looking to hurt the Rockets’ best player and admitted that injuries are part of the game, something every player has to deal with. But he was concerned about his fellow competitor and went to check on him to ensure the damage was not severe.

"It's not about hurting anybody out here. So many times people forget when a guy has an injury, you live with that every day, every second of every day. It's not just about this game. If his eye is messed up, he's got to live that every day. Just want to check on the guy,” Green said.