The Brooklyn Nets lost James Harden early in Game 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks with an right hamstring injury.
After the defeating the Boston Celtics in five games, the Brooklyn Nets moved onto their next challenge — the Milwaukee Bucks. The Nets had to feel good about their chances on Saturday night, especially given the performances by their big three in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Unfortunately, things got ugly in a hurry for Brooklyn.
In the first minute of the game, Harden was seen walking to the locker room on the TNT broadcast. When looking at the replay, Harden grabbed at his right hamstring after driving to the basket, and walked to the tunnel inside Barclays Center. At the end of the first quarter, the Nets ruled out Harden for the remainder of the game.
NBA Twitter reacted accordingly to seeing Harden leave Game 1 extremely early with the hamstring injury.
Nets: James Harden leaves Game 1 with apparent injury
This is definitely something that Nets fans are concerned about. As mentioned in some of the tweets above, Harden had previously suffered a right hamstring injury this season, and it forced him to miss 21 games. Even with Harden absent, the Nets kept it close with the Bucks, ending the first quarter down 32-30.
Harden was lights-out throughout Brooklyn’s first-round series with Boston, especially in Game 5, where the star tallied a triple-double (34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists). Overall Harden averaged 27.8 points, 10.6 assists and 7.2 rebounds through those five games.
Brooklyn having their three stars healthy throughout the playoffs made them the favorites to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Playoffs. Now, the Nets will have to go without Harden for the remainder of Game 1. From there, the Nets will wait and see how severe the injury is and if Harden will miss any additional time in the playoffs.