The Houston Rockets find themselves down two games to none in the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trailblazers. After the game, Rockets guard James Harden was answering questions in a media scrum when NBA.com Hangtime Blog writer Fran Blinebury asked about Harden’s offensive struggles.
Harden pointed to the team’s defensive struggles and Blinebury followed up Harden’s answer by pointing out that he is e’s just 14-for-47 shooting, 29 percent and rewording his question.
“I’m not worried about my offense,” Harden told Blinebury, via the piece he wrote following the interaction. “It’s basketball. You’re gonna miss shots. It’s basketball, like I said.”
In the video of the interaction you can see Harden isn’t thrilled and after the media scrum, Harden confronted him.
From the Oregonian:
"But when his media session in the Rockets opulent locker room ended, Harden went back at the reporter, asking if he had ever seen a player not play well before. The reporter answered that the struggle seemed unusual for Harden and was coming on a major stage, the playoffs.The two went back and forth for a while, with Harden asking the reporter if he’d ever seen a basketball game before, then demanding to know whom the reporter was. The exchange got testy enough that team officials stepped in to usher Harden out.As he left the room, Harden called the reporter “weirdo.”"
Well, we’ll see what happens in the next game and if he can get his shooting on track. Either way, I’m intrigued to see Blinebury ask Harden questions again.