James Harden is an absolute warrior, and his injury in the Play-Offs loss to the Golden State Warriors in 2019 is true testimony of the fact.
James Harden has built a reputation as one of the hardest players to go up against his generation. The Philadelphia 76ers man combines his strength and speed with his passion and desire and his never back down mentality, and even at 35, is one of the toughest players in the NBA.
A real testimony of this fact can be drawn from the time he injured both his eyes in 2019. The Houston Rockets (with the reigning MVP Harden in their ranks) went up against the Golden State Warriors in the Play-Offs, and it was only in the first quarter that a tussle with Draymond Green injured both of Harden’s eyes.
As Green and Harden collided for a loose ball, Green hit Harden in the eyes and left a cut on one of his eyelids, as well as left both of his eyes bleeding. It was an injury that looked very serious as Harden went off the court in the first quarter itself, but he was back on the court for the second quarter.
Even with barely functioning and bleeding eyes, Harden put on a show – the Rockets star racked up 29 points on 9-for-19 shooting, with seven rebounds, four assists and six turnovers, though it ended in a losing cause.
What did James Harden have to say about the incident?
A disappointed Harden spoke after the loss, on how his injury affected his game.
“I can barely see. Just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates,” Harden said after the game. “It’s pretty blurry right now. Hopefully it gets better day by day.”
His coach applauded his resilience as well, as Mike D’Antoni commended Harden’s will to fight through the pain. “He got raked pretty good in the eyes. But that’s him. I didn’t have a doubt he was coming back unless it was something catastrophic. I’m sure he would have loved to have played better. Under the circumstances, I thought he played great.”
Harden will hope to channel some of that resilience again as he hopes to guide the 76ers to the NBA Championship this coming season.
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