Brooklyn Nets star James Harden will miss Game 2 against the Milwaukee Bucks due to right hamstring tightness, the team announced Sunday.
Harden played only 43 seconds of Game 1 before suffering the injury. On the Nets’ first possession of the game, Harden came up limping after driving into the lane and firing a pass to teammate Joe Harris. Harden could later be seen walking to the locker room after he was subbed out.
The Nets took Game 1 despite Harden’s absence, 115-107. Game 2 takes place Monday.
The 31-year-old missed 21 games due to a hamstring injury but returned for the final two games of the regular season. Harden played in all five games of the Nets’ first-round series against the Boston Celtics averaging 27.8 points, 10.6 assists and 7.2 rebounds and shooting 55.6 per cent from the field and 47.5 per cent from three-point range.
The Nets acquired Harden from the Houston Rockets in a blockbuster trade in January. Brooklyn sent four first-round picks and four pick swaps, along with Caris LeVert, Dante Exum and Rodions Kurucs to Houston for Harden, with the Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers also involved.
In 36 regular season games with the Nets, Harden averaged 24.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, 10.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 36.6 minutes per game while shooting 47.1 per cent from the field, 36.6 per cent from three and 85.6 per cent from the free-throw line.
