James Harden, Shelley Smith have funny exchange about eye injury

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James Harden wasn't in much of a mood to talk to reporters after the Rockets' Game 2 loss to the Warriors on Tuesday evening.

The reigning MVP suffered a lacerated left eyelid in the first quarter, and his team would eventually fall into an 0-2 hole in the NBA playoff second-round series.

But Harden was able to laugh a little when ESPN reporter Shelley Smith asked him a question about how much his eye injury affected him on the court.

The back-and-forth that ensued was pretty funny, with Smith offering some remedies to Harden.

Smith: James, we can tell the lights are bothering you. Did you have trouble with your vision on the court?

Harden: Can't see nothing. Barely can see.

Smith: Were you able to get any relief from drops or anything else?

Harden: Yeah, they put a couple drops ... a couple drops to help numb it a little bit, but just all the lights were blurry.

Smith: And they can't put more drops in because it might damage the tissue? Is that right? 

Chris Paul: Dang.

Harden: You know everything over here.

Smith: I've had it happen, not playing basketball.

Paul: We're gonna find out you were hooping Shelley.

Smith: Sleeping really helps, by the way.

Harden: Thank you. Appreciate that.

[RELATED: Curry suffers dislocated middle finger]

With three days until Game 3 in Houston, Harden will have plenty of time to crawl under the covers, avoid direct sunlight and sleep.

We'll find out Saturday if Smith's advice helped Harden see the Warriors' Death Lineup a little more clearly.

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