NEW YORK — James Harden will miss Friday night’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, but the Houston Rockets guard likely will return to the lineup Saturday.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said Harden, the reigning MVP, was pain-free following Thursday’s practice and is probable for the Rockets’ road game against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night. Including Friday’s game against the Nets, Harden has missed three games after being diagnosed with a Grade 1-plus strain to his left hamstring last week.
D’Antoni said Harden was healthy enough to play on Friday, but the organization decided it made sense to give him an extra day’s rest. D’Antoni said Harden wouldn’t have played in both games of Houston’s back-to-back.
He will not be playing on a minutes limit when he returns.
“James is never limited. He wants to play,” D’Antoni said Thursday on Harden, who missed seven games with a Grade 2 hamstring strain last January.
The Rockets will certainly welcome his return at this point.
They are 1-5 to start the season, which prompted D’Antoni to say earlier in the week that the team is “playing like crap.”
“We’ll have the urgency, it just has to last 48 minutes,” the coach said before tipoff Friday.
In addition to Harden’s imminent return, James Ennis returned to the Rockets lineup Friday. Ennis, who missed the past three games with a hamstring strain, drew the start against the Nets, moving Carmelo Anthony to a reserve role.