OAKLAND – Even an hour after the Houston Rockets slipped to a Game 2 defeat that put them into an 0-2 deficit in the conference semifinals, James Harden was still struggling. Walking behind Chris Paul into a post-game news conference, Harden held his hand over his left eye. Harden dealt with bleeding in both eyes, including a lacerated left eyelid, following an accidental poke from the Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green on Tuesday night. As Harden sat down to address the press, he squinted uncomfortably, shielding his eyes from the bright lights of the podium, and explained how the first-quarter injury had affected him. “I could barely see,” Harden said. “I just tried to go out there and do what I can to help my teammates. It is pretty blurry right now. Hopefully it gets better day by day.” BUCKS RESPOND:Rout Celtics in Game 2 KEY TO 76ERS' TITLE DREAMS:Meet 'James' Butler Harden had to leave the court after the contact with Green left him on the Oracle Arena floor clutching his face. When he came back in the second he managed to put together a 29-point performance as Houston battled hard before falling 115-109. “He got raked pretty good in the eyes but he came back,” Houston head coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I didn’t have a doubt that he wasn’t coming back unless it was something catastrophic. That’s him. He would have loved to play better, but given the circumstances, he played great.” Golden State led throughout, with the Rockets unable to close the gap to closer than three. Harden went 9-of-19 shooting, and despite being fouled on the three-point attempt by Kevin Durant to finish the third quarter, the refereeing controversy of Game 1 did not raise its head again. For the Rockets, Harden’s vision will be an issue they will want sorted as the series shifts to Houston on Saturday night. His regular-season exploits and extraordinary scoring levels made him a joint MVP favorite alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo. Given his limitations, his performance Tuesday was laudable. “I couldn’t see nothing,” he added. “I barely could see. They put a couple of drops in to help it and numb it a little bit. All the lights were blurry.” Harden’s mood was gloomy, although things took a lighter turn when a reporter informed him that sleeping would help his eye heal. Both Green and Durant came to check on Harden as he left the floor in the first quarter, although it is not clear how welcome Green’s apology was. “What do you want me to say?” Harden said. “He asked me if I was alright. I said, 'Yeah.'" “I made a mistake and hit him in his eye,” Green had said, minutes earlier. “It’s not about hurting anybody out here. So many times, people forget that when a guy has an injury, you live with that every day, every second of every day. It is not just about the game.” The Warriors had an injury scare of their own when Stephen Curry left the floor with a gruesome-looking finger injury early, but he returned quickly. After evaluation, it emerged Curry’s middle finger on his left hand was dislocated, not broken, and despite favoring it a little, it did not seem to overly affect his performance.<doc-sep>Houston Rockets will attempt to steal one on the road tonight by Michael Knight James Harden of the Houston Rockets has been on fire ever since Warriors’ forward Draymond Green poked him in the eyes in Game 2. After losing a close Game 1, things got even worse for the Houston Rockets in Game 2. Not only did they lose the game, waisting an opportunity to steal a win in Oakland, but James Harden also got poked in the eyes by Draymond Green. After his eye injury, Harden quickly left the court and remained in the locker room for about a quarter. After the game, we learned that Harden suffered a contusion in both of his eyes and a laceration on his left eye. In his post game interview, Harden said his vision was blurry and there was a small concern that he could miss Game 3 if his eye got worse. Fortunately, Harden’s eye got better, and so did his on court performance. After Harden returned to action in Game 2, he scored 29 points on 9-19 shooting in the final three quarters of the game. In Game 3, Harden took his game to the next level at Toyota Center, finishing with 41 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists to help lead the Rockets to a 126-121 overtime win against the Warriors. In Game 3, Harden continued his hot scoring, leading all scorers with 38 points, while grabbing 10 rebounds and sending back two shots. Harden has averaged 36 points and 8.7 rebounds in his last three games since his eye injury, and the Rockets as a team look more confident than ever since the series is tied 2-2. When asked about his injury, Harden seemed to take pride in his recent play despite not being 100 percent, according to USA Today’s Martin Rogers. “A lucky charm. I hope it is.” Defensively, Golden State has so many talented individual defenders and it is hard to create mismatches against their “Hampton Five” lineup. However, that hasn’t slowed down Harden in recent games, who has had success driving and finishing at the rim since Golden State isn’t starting a traditional center. We’ve seen stars embrace a sort of alter ego in the past. We’ve had “Masked” LeBron James, who dropped a career-high 61 points against the Knicks back in 2014. “Untucked Jersey” Kyrie Irving, “Hoodie” Carmelo Anthony and “Waiters Island” for Miami’s Dion Waiters are also a few fan favorites. Perhaps, “Red Eye” James Harden could become a thing too? If Harden continues to tear apart Golden State’s defense and lead Houston to wins, Rockets fans will have to come up with a new alter ego for The Beard.<doc-sep>Photo : Jeff Chiu ( AP Basketball fans had every reason to expect Game 2 of the Rockets-Warriors Western Conference semifinal series to be ugly, with the Rockets working the officials in embarrassing fashion and franchise enemy Scott Foster assigned to the refereeing crew. But this was not the start that anyone imagined! Advertisement What at first looked like James Harden selling incidental contact in the paint was in fact Harden reacting in pain to having had his eye poked by Draymond Green. This was no joke—Harden had to go back to the locker room, and Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni reported that Harden’s eyeball was bleeding, which frankly makes me want to vomit. Harden’s eye looked red and sore when he returned to the court, but return he did: That wasn’t the only grody injury from the first quarter, and it wasn’t even the most grody injury from the first quarter. Steph Curry managed to dislocate the middle finger on his left hand, and you know what that means—disgusting zig-zag finger alert! Steph, too, was able to return to the game—trainers relocated (?) and taped up his nightmare finger—and ripped home a signature three at the end of the quarter: Advertisement It’s a dangerous scene out there in Oakland tonight. Just wait until the injury bug finds its way to Chris Paul’s hamstrings. Oh buddy.<doc-sep>
James Harden tells reporters after the Rockets' Game 2 loss that he's still in pain after suffering an eye injury and says that everything is 'pretty blurry.' (1:33) OAKLAND, Calif. -- Houston Rockets star James Harden said he "can barely see" after getting hit in both eyes Tuesday night during the first quarter of a 115-109 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinals series. Harden, who had bleeding in both eyes and suffered a laceration on his left eyelid, returned in the second quarter and finished with 29 points on 9-of-19 shooting as the Warriors took a 2-0 series lead. Harden's eyes were especially sensitive to light. He squinted and shielded his eyes repeatedly during the game and throughout his postgame news conference. He said his vision was a problem after taking an inadvertent shot from Golden State's Draymond Green and didn't know if it would continue to be an issue when the series resumes Saturday in Houston. "It's pretty blurry right now," Harden said. "Hopefully it gets better day by day." Warriors star guard Stephen Curry also briefly left the game because of an injury in the first quarter, dislocating the middle finger on his left hand when he tried to tip the ball away from Rockets center Clint Capela. Curry missed a few minutes while getting an X-ray, which was negative, and a tape job on the finger. Curry scored 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting (3-of-13 from 3-point range) in the win. "It looked bad when he came off the floor," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "I looked at the finger and I was just hoping it was a dislocation and not a break. And fortunately, that's what it turned out to be. As far as whether it bothered him, you can ask him that. I thought he did some great things for us and fueled us, and may not have shot the 3 that well, but played a great game for us." Said Curry: "It hurts, but it's all right. Didn't break anything. Fortunate, and some higher power's looking out for me on that one. Just gotta deal with pain and hopefully, before Saturday, that goes away and will be fine." Curry didn't sound concerned the injury would limit him moving forward, especially since the Warriors will get a full day off Wednesday. Curry even joked that his block on Capela in the second half, with his injured left hand, was worth a little extra pain.