{"id":13497,"date":"2022-01-29T07:38:37","date_gmt":"2022-01-29T07:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/2022\/01\/29\/james-harden-set-to-return-for-nets-clash-with-warriors\/"},"modified":"2022-01-29T07:38:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-29T07:38:38","slug":"james-harden-set-to-return-for-nets-clash-with-warriors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/james-harden-set-to-return-for-nets-clash-with-warriors\/","title":{"rendered":"James Harden set to return for Nets clash with Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>After watching James Harden practice, Nets coach Steve Nash declared the guard would be ready to play Saturday at Golden State.<\/p>\n<p>Nic Claxton, who should be returning to the Nets\u2019 rotation, too, was more colorful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe looks like money,\u201d the big man said of Harden after practice on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Harden will not have any limitations upon returning after a one-game absence because of hamstring tightness, Nash said, meaning the Nets will take on the Warriors with two of their three stars. Kevin Durant is out with a sprained left MCL, but Kyrie Irving, who is not able to play at home, will be able to suit up for the five-game road trip.<\/p>\n<p>Harden had reported left hamstring tightness after the Nets lost to the Lakers on Tuesday in Brooklyn, then watched as his team lost at home to the Nuggets on Wednesday. Claxton was also out against Denver, sitting on the second end of the back-to-back after missing seven consecutive games with a left hamstring injury.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption>James Harden<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>The Nets should be much closer to whole, which will be important against first the Warriors and then the Suns. The five-game trip represents the longest stretch thus far Irving will be eligible to play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s still adapting to his game coming back,\u201d Nash said after practice Friday. \u201cWe take for granted with him \u2026 how much time he\u2019s off, and he comes back, and it looks like he\u2019s never left.\u201cBut he\u2019s still trying to find his game. His level\u2019s so good that it\u2019s hard to tell. But we can tell; he can tell. He knows that he\u2019s not fully back yet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In seven games (four wins) since the Nets allowed the unvaccinated Irving to play in road games, he has averaged 23.4 points (on 50.4 percent shooting) with 5.1 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n<p>Nash played against Klay Thompson for three seasons before working with Thompson and the Warriors as a player-development consultant in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>He has watched from afar as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history missed two full seasons recovering from a torn ACL and then a torn Achilles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKnowing Klay, it\u2019s a little deeper one for me. I know how much he loves the game,To have him have back-to-back season-ending injuries, more or less, is devastating for him personally,\u201d Nash said. \u201c \u2026 To see him back playing \u2014 where he needs to be, where he should be, where he wants to be \u2014 is a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd then, of course, the game of basketball needs and wants to see him out there every night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Thompson is coming off the best of his eight games this season, in which he shot 9-for-16, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range, and scored 23 points in a win over the Timberwolves on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After watching James Harden practice, Nets coach Steve Nash declared the guard would be ready to play Saturday at Golden State. Nic Claxton, who should be returning to the Nets\u2019 rotation, too, was more colorful. \u201cHe looks like money,\u201d the big man said of Harden after practice on Friday. Harden will not have any limitations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[1150,690,203,198,199],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13499,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13497\/revisions\/13499"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nbanewsinsider.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}