James Harden ‘bothered’ by sore shoulder

James Harden’s 30-point scoring streak continued on Monday despite a sore shoulder sustained during a game over the weekend.

During Saturday’s game between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, Harden got tangled up with Steven Adams. The result was a sore shoulder that required attention from the Rockets’ training staff during the game. Later that evening, Harden downplayed the impact of the sore shoulder on his play.

Harden on his sore shoulder: "I just caught up w/ Adams. He's a pretty strong guy. I'll be all right." Did it impact his play or decisions? "I'm not going to make excuses. They played well. They made big-time shots. We didn't have a great 3rd quarter. That's the story of the gm."

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 10, 2019

Following Monday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks, in which Harden eclipsed the 30-point mark for the 30th game in a row, Mike D’Antoni said the sore shoulder bothered his star throughout the night.

D'Antoni said, unprompted, that Harden was bothered by the sore shoulder from getting tied with with Adams on Sunday. "The shoulder is bothering him. He did not have a great game."

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 12, 2019

Harden will likely continue to downplay the effects of the soreness on his play. However, now that D’Antoni has made it public that Harden is bothered by it, this will be something worth monitoring. Harden is as important to the Rockets as any player is to his team.