Here’s How James Harden Bruised His Right Knee In Sunday’s Preseason Game

There are eight preseason games, and some might not think that’s enough time to properly gel as a team or prepare for the season. Others, particularly Rocket and Magic fans, might disagree after James Harden and Tobias Harris both injured their knees in Sunday night’s preseason game. Neither injury seems serious, but Harden means a lot more to his team, and Rockets fans have every right to be worried until X-rays and MRI results are released.

The Rockets are legitimate title contenders unless Harden’s right knee bruise is more serious than initially anticipated. The Magic are a borderline playoff team in the East with Harris healthy, but that’s probably their ceiling in Scott Skiles’ first year at the helm with such a young team.

Here’s more on Harden, via the Houston Chronicle‘s Jonathan Feigen.

This is a good time to remind readers that knee injuries are incredibly difficult to predict. As innocuous as it might seem, we can’t help but think of Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley, when we look at video of the play.

After Harden was stripped by Evan Fournier, Fournier’s left knee collided with Harden’s right when he took it to the basket on the other end.

Harden limped off the court immediately after the play, grimaced in some pain and then walked back to the locker room under his own power. Here’s more about what happened from Feigen, including the — somewhat scary — reaction of Houston’s brass.

On the Orlando side, Harris said he was fine after the game.

We’ll update you on the severity of Harden’s knee bruise when it’s released, but Beard’s teammates don’t seem that worried about it.

Corey Brewer, who led Houston with 20 points in the 123-119 Rockets loss, was optimistic about his star teammate’s health when Feigen talked to him after the game.