Harden leaves match with bruised knee

The Magic game was Harden’s third preseason game so far. But through most of the preseason, the young Magic don’t seem to have gotten the message, and this has to be disturbing to Skiles. The Magic ranked in the bottom half of points allowed and field goal percentage against the last two seasons, and this is what Skiles vowed to turn around when he became the new man in charge. But it is not going to happen if the team continues to be matadors on the court. Want to know what’s on his mind?

Harden sustained the injury when he banged into Evan Fournier to defend a break during the second quarter.

Harden did not return to the game and is not expected to be out for an extended period of time. In his final run with the Thunder in the 11-12 season, Harden played in 62 games, shot just over 1,000 points, and 16.8 points per game on average. The Rockets, who did not have Dwight Howard, ended up losing 123-119.

Harden had a legitimate case to be the league MVP for the 2014-15 season, though he ultimately lost out to Stephen Curry for the award. The team hopes the injury is not serious and with this a preseason game, it was a safe move by the Rockets to take him out as a precaution. He was supposed to sit out the second game against the Dallas Mavericks last week but had asked to play.

UP NEXT: Orlando visits the Miami Heat on Tuesday night.