Brooklyn Nets star James Harden hinted last week that he would be returning from his hamstring injury before the playoffs. Nets head coach Steve Nash addressed Harden's potential return this week as the regular season winds down.
While Nash teased Harden getting in some game action before the playoffs, he wouldn't put a set date on the star guard's return:
Steve Nash’s full response to the route of playing James Harden in the Nets remaining games of the regular season.
Credit to @Krisplashed for the question. pic.twitter.com/z32zJpZ89u
— Chris Milholen (@CMilholenSB) May 10, 2021
The Nets have four games left and are currently in a dogfight with the Milwaukee Bucks for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. There's a back-to-back against the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then a final back-to-back against the Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers this weekend to finish the season.
There's almost certainly no chance Harden will play both ends of a back-to-back. Could he perhaps play one game in each of them? Or maybe he just comes back for one of those last two games of the season? We'll have to wait and see what the Nets decide.
Harden hasn't played since April 5 due to his injury. A recent setback cost him even more time and forced this return timetable right up against the end of the season.
The Nets are 44-24 in 2020-21, but they haven't been nearly as dominant without Harden. The former Rockets star was playing at an MVP level before he went down. James Harden’s stats with the Nets sit at 25.4 points, 11.0 assists and 8.7 rebounds per game. He's shooting 46.7% overall and 36.1% from 3 as a Net.
Whenever Harden does return, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will be glad to have their superstar sidekick back. As long as that Big Three is healthy, Brooklyn is the favorite in the Eastern Conference, even without the top seed.
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