James Harden questionable for Sunday in Denver with thigh bruise

James Harden (left thigh bruise) is questionable for Sunday’s Rockets game at Denver, but red-hot Russell Westbrook appears set to play.

Houston Rockets superstar James Harden is questionable to play in Sunday afternoon’s game at Denver with a left thigh contusion, the team announced Saturday in its injury report.

Russell Westbrook, who typically sits out one game of all back-to-backs, is not listed on Houston’s injury report — which would seem to indicate that he’s scheduled to play in Denver and perhaps sit out Monday in Utah.

Houston (28-16) is chasing both the Nuggets (31-14) and Jazz (31-13) in the Western Conference standings. But it would be understandable if the Rockets see Sunday’s game as more important since a win would clinch the season series for Houston against Denver, and thus the potential end-of-season tiebreaker if the teams finish with the same record.

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By comparison, Monday’s game in Utah is only the first of four between those two teams in the 2019-20 NBA season. And with it being the second night of a back-to-back, it could easily be argued that the Rockets are likely to lose Monday no matter what, even at full strength.

Westbrook enters the Denver game red hot, having scored a season-high 45 points in Friday’s victory at Minnesota. Over his last 19 games since Dec. 7, Westbrook is averaging 29.9 points on 49.6% shooting for the Rockets, along with 8.1 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game.

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In contrast, Harden has been mired in a deep slump for much of January. He still leads the NBA by far with a scoring average of 36.1 points per game this season, but in his last nine games, Harden is averaging 27.3 points on just 33.3% shooting from the field and 22.3% on 3-pointers.

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Now, on top of his shooting funk, Harden is dealing with a bruised left thigh after taking an accidental knee to the area from Minnesota big man Karl-Anthony Towns during Friday’s game. When asked by reporters postgame, Harden said it was too soon to know his status for Sunday.

Harden scored a season-low 12 points against the Timberwolves on just 3-of-13 shooting (23.1%) from the field and 0-of-6 on 3-pointers. His struggles predated the injury, which occurred during the third quarter.

After Friday’s collision, Harden kept his thigh loose by riding an exercise bike during his bench minutes before returning to play for the entire fourth quarter. While he was on the floor, Harden seemed to lack his usual on-court mobility, and Westbrook took the Rockets to the finish line with 15 points in the game’s final eight minutes.

With that said, Harden’s presence — even if as a decoy — seemed to help open up driving lanes for Westbrook, and that could be among the team’s considerations in determining his availability for Sunday.

The next update on Harden’s status could come when head coach Mike D’Antoni conducts his pregame media session early Sunday afternoon from Denver. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Central time.