NBA Buzz: Harden, Free Throws, Harris, Franchise Records, Westbrook

James Harden is off to a slow start this season, averaging just 16.6. points per game on 35.9 shooting from the field.

Harden went down with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Bucks, as he was previously sidelined with a hamstring injury for the greater part of the last two months of the season.

Harden ended up trying to play through it from Games 5-7 of that series once Kyrie Irving went down with a sprained ankle.

“[I’m] getting more confident, being aggressive and it’s getting better every single game. As much as I want to get back to 30 and 40 points, I can’t do that. As much as I want to, obviously, I’d love to,” Harden said. “I had no opportunities to play pickup or nothing this summer. Everything was rehab for three months, from a Grade 2 injury that happened three times in one season.

“So this is my fifth or sixth game of trying to just play with competition and play against somebody else. And as much as I want to rush the process and be back to hooping and killing, take your time. But this will make me stronger at the end of the season. So I just embrace moments like this and things like this. And I just keep pushing through it.”

It’s still early, but if the Nets want to realize their championship aspirations, then they’ll need Harden to get back to his MVP form, especially with Irving out for the foreseeable future.

More NBA Buzz

• With the rule changes in place, NBA referees will no longer be blowing their whistles in the event of shooters lunging into defenders in an “abnormal movement” to draw a foul. Harden has been hindered by the rule, as Nets head coach Steve Nash believes Harden has “unfairly become the poster boy” for the new rule. “Yes, for sure, but I’m not the type to complain about it. I just ask every official: if they see a foul, call a foul. Sometimes I feel like coming into a game, it’s already predetermined or I already have that stigma of getting foul calls, but I just ask officials to call what they see,” Harden said. “I can’t stop playing basketball. I mean, a foul is a foul no matter what league it is. But it’s bigger, I’ve got to play better obviously. That’s it.”

• Joe Harris became first in all-time 3-point makes in Nets history last night with 816 made threes in a Nets uniform. Harris passed Jason Kidd on the list. “If J-Kidd was playing in this day in age, he would’ve made a lot more threes,” Harris said.

• Former coach Jim Boylen believes that Russell Westbrook should be coming off the bench, he said on NBA TV’s GameTime (h/t NBA Analysis Network). In two games without LeBron James, Westbrook is averaging 26.5 points, 12.0 rebounds and 10.5 assists per game. Perhaps the Lakers could look to stagger both of their minutes when they’re both healthy.