The Houston Rockets are down 2-0 to Golden State in the Western Conference semifinals — but they received some positive news about star James Harden on Wednesday.
According to a report from ESPN early Thursday morning, the Rockets guard did not suffer any damage to his corneas when he was poked in the eye during Game 2against the Warriors, and his vision is expected to be "completely clear" for Game 3 on Saturday.
Harden said after the 115-109 loss in Game 2 that he "could barely see" after being accidentally poked in the eye by Draymond Green in the first quarter. He was diagnosed with a lacerated left eyelid, and he was still bothered by the issue even during his postgame news conference
"It is pretty blurry right now," Harden said. "Hopefully it gets better day by day."
Harden, who has been one of the frontrunners for this season's MVP award, still mustered 29 points on Tuesday night, even with his vision issues. He will be a focal point for the Rockets as the series shifts back to Houston, where they split two games against Golden State during the regular season.
This is obviously great news as the Rockets will certainly need Harden firing on all cylinders to get back in this series. Game 3 is essentially a must-win, as coming back from a 3-0 deficit against the Warriors would be nothing short of a miracle. Even at 2-0, the Rockets have already fallen to a 5-to-1 underdog to come back and win the series, while the Warriors are now -700 to finish Houston off. Harden played pretty well in Game 2 despite the poor vision, scoring 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting including 3-of-7 from 3-point range.
After the game, Green said he made a mistake and hit Harden in his eye. He checked on the Rockets' star after the game and, in his postgame news conference said: "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."
