There’s no denying the magic of James Harden, but his hamstrings may be his undoing

alethios · Nov 1, 2018

Harden knows what he needs...

cheke64 · Nov 1, 2018

Carl Herrera said: ↑

Alcohol literally eats your hamstrings. It is known.
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Alcohol gives you a pregnant belly and hamstrings are part of your posterior chain which is responsible for decelaration/braking. Add 40 pounds and then play NBA speed and see if you strain something.

Moleb · Nov 1, 2018

hakeem94 said: ↑

you are not james harden , weird
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& I guarantee you don't have an athletic bone in your body so you could understand physical activity.

Roc Paint · Nov 1, 2018

If he’s not careful the strippers may get a holt of him as well

sammy · Nov 1, 2018

Lol. He’s gonna end up missing 3 games and will be fine

juanm34 · Nov 1, 2018

Shut him down till the all star break.

aurocketfan · Nov 1, 2018

Lol..what?

basketballholic · Nov 1, 2018

Stormy1234 said: ↑

As a result, the hip and the hamstring work hand in hand. The hip muscles push the hamstrings to extend with the knee, allowing for acceleration. The hamstrings will then create a mechanism to brake and decelerate. If not in harmony, or if one is inoperable due to injury, this takes away Harden’s capacity to bewitch his opponents.

Unfortunately for Harden, an element to his performance was broken, he left during the fourth quarter of an Oct. 24 game vs. Utah with a hamstring injury. Following an MRI, he was diagnosed with a Grade 1-Plus left hamstring strain. This has caused him to miss games against the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers, with the possibility of missing Houston’s second road back-to-back of the season against the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, which starts Friday.

A grade 1+ hamstring strain is very close to a grade 2 injury, but not quite. Hamstring strains are very tricky to understand, but here’s a Cliff Notes version. A strain occurs when excessive demand is placed on a muscle, resulting in stretching, fatigue or overuse. A grade 1 strain is a mild hamstring strain, where a small amount of muscle fibers are damaged along the surface of the muscle tissue. A grade 2 strain is much worse, involving partial tears due to a higher percentage of muscle fibers being damaged. Harden has a grade 1+, meaning he saw muscle fibers damaged, but not to that percentage of a grade 2 hamstring strain. Still, for a player who relies heavily on his hamstrings to generate the power and deceleration needed for efficient offensive production, how might this affect Harden and the way the training staff approaches the injury?

“You bring him back slow,” Rockets athletic trainer Keith Jones said. “You bring him back safely. We have stages that we bring every guy back. We’ll take him through some stuff. If he does that well, then we step up, we step up, we step up. And then we try to get him to a certain amount of minutes of practice or working out a certain load that would mimic a game. Obviously, you can’t mimic game movements and a game, it’s just the load he puts on his body. We’ll see how he does. We’ll see how he recovers from that and we just add to that level every day to get him back safely.”

Once Harden does return, the next question becomes will this hamstring become a nagging concern for the team? The Rockets know they can’t control that. “There’s nothing you can do (to minimize risk), he’s got to play basketball,” Jones said. “You can’t tape it or wrap it or something to protect it because he’s got to use it. But you just try to bring it back so it’s stronger or stronger than the other leg, and just progress it and progress a little every day.”

As of right now, Harden is going through a plethora of exercises and machines. He’s working on movement, stretching, on-the-floor work and consistent machine time. “Just a ton of stuff,” was Keith Jones’ basic interpretation of what exercises and work the Rockets are doing to get Harden back on the court as soon as possible.

The Rockets begin a five-game road trip this weekend. Harden and the training staff will continue to increase his workload in the days leading up to the game against Brooklyn, before making a decision on playing. With Harden’s footwork, balance and deceleration a pivotal part of his overall game, the Rockets need his hamstring healthy. They’ll continue to rely on Haden as a magician, as a hypnotist, surveying for his ideal mismatch, going one-on-one in isolation, and leaving fans and players mesmerized with transcendent ability to stop, step-back and score.
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Good article. Hate it. But it's the truth. Harden with sloppy brakes ain't Harden. And it will impact his game. Refurbish knows how hamstring injuries linger when you're straining those muscles constant. It's going to be a factor throughout the season.

Will said: ↑

Zero in this article, zero, supports the words "may be his undoing."
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Maybe he could've said the Rockets undoing and it would have been more accurate??????

The point is against the Warriors exercises gotta be healthy and at the top of their game or we're going down.....if we actually get there.....And Harden with sloppy brakes against the Warriors won't be good enough.

And the problem could continue throughout the vengeance of his career. This COULD be the start of a chronic issue which limits Harden's minutes and peak performance. Because of the way he stops and starts it's easy to understand the hamstring strain. And he's already racked up a lot of mileage on them.

I'm concerned about this issue being an ongoing one that limits Harden nite and in the future.

daywalker02 · Nov 2, 2018

cheke64 said: ↑

Alcohol gives you a pregnant belly and hamstrings are part of your posterior chain which is responsible for decelaration/braking. Add 40 pounds and then play NBA speed and see if you strain something.
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At Halloween parties as Bane.

Homey the Clown · Nov 2, 2018

Lol it seems like a lot of you are brushing off this article which is par for the course here. Hopefully Harden will return to form throughout the rest of his career but the issues raised in this article are very real concerns going forward. My fiance is an athletic trainer at a blue blood university. These types of injuries can really hinder an athlete going forward. They destroy you.

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