James Harden’s wrist is hurting, but he refuses to sit

After Tuesday's loss against the Golden State Warriors, James Harden admitted to the media that his wrist, hurt twice in the last few games, is bothering him.

Harden has been playing through the pain for a couple of games now, and while he's still close to his normal self — he got his 20th triple-double of the season Tuesday night — the Beard is admittedly struggling.

"It's pretty tough man, I'm not going to lie," James Harden said of his wrist. "I don't like to feel sorry myself at all, but the shot is short and it's frustrating when you can't even follow through."

Against the Warriors, with his left wrist wrappped up, he finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists, but he only shot 25% and he was 0-8 from three until about two minutes left in the game, when he hit is one and only three-pointer.

After the game, Harden said, despite his wrist hurting, he would keep playing. It appears it won’t keep him out of action.

"Ice, treatment, ready to go," Harden said. He repeated that mantra several times when press about whether he would sit.

While he seems steadfast in his want to play, it might not be the best of ideas.

"I think it bothered him a little bit," Mike D'Antoni said of Harden's wrist. "We'll have to look at it going forward and make sure he's OK, but I'm sure it bothered him some."

DNP-rest will not happen, but DNP-injured wrist is something the Rockets should really explore.

Harden needs to get his wrist right before the playoffs. Playing through the pain in really meaningless games is just crazy town. Yes, he's a warrior and he's a beast, but no one is going to knock him if he misses a few games in order to get his wrist healed up.

While it should happen, it probably won't.

At least the players understand what Harden is going through, and they are trying to help him out. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Harden's teammates carried the team. Tuesday, the Beard again tried to let them take over, but no one could make shots.

"To see our leader play through pain like that and sacrifice his body like that, that means a lot for this team," Patrick Beverley said.