Chris Paul always knew he’d fit in perfectly with James Harden. Now we know, too

HOUSTON — In a cramped visiting locker room last October, Chris Paul tried to convince anyone listening that he really meant it. He had just completed a preseason game with James Harden, the first time in his career playing next to another dominant ball-handler guard of his echelon, something Paul had yearned for over the past years. It was thrilling.

But Paul also knew not everyone was convinced. It didn’t really matter some pundits believed his personality could clash with Harden’s, or his slow, ball dominant style would put him at odds with head coach Mike D’Antoni. The team would succeed or fail no matter what was said about them. But Paul was in high spirits, and still weeks away from the grind of the regular season. In this moment, he was happy to help steer the narrative.

Look at the guards he had played with in Los Angeles and New Orleans, the 32-year-old Paul said to those still lingering, even after his official media scrum had ended. He had even suggested the Clippers acquire another ball handler during his time there. Of course he wouldn’t clash with Harden, because Paul himself was the driving force behind assuming a smaller role, something that would hopefully lead him to his most successful postseason yet.

After an incredible season and a decisive Game 1 win in the second round against the Utah Jazz, it’s clear that Paul wasn’t exaggerating at all. Maybe his critics should have listened then.

With all that said, Paul isn’t here to gloat. It’s unlikely he cares about the talking heads who predicted doom enough to bother doing something like that, and it will require more than this for him to feel validation.

“It’s been fun,” Paul admitted after Game 1, “but we still got a lot of work to do.”

There are specific moments that stand out — “when you out the game and the lead increases,” Paul said. He didn’t finish his thought, but everyone can think back to moments when the Clippers nosedived whenever he went to the bench. On Sunday, the Rockets were plus-12 on the floor with Paul but also plus-two without him.

The success of Harden and Paul together wasn’t guaranteed, and a lesser team or coach could have screwed it up. But D’Antoni’s rotations are rigid: one of the two is always on the floor, and both are involved heavily when they don’t have the ball.

On Sunday, Harden finished with 41 points on 12-of-26 shooting, plus seven assists, while Paul turned in a statline that included 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting with six more dimes himself. The two traded buckets while the Rockets built a 13-point lead when the first quarter ended, and they never relinquished their double-digit advantage.

D’Antoni frequently refers to the two as a luxury, saying that he’ll take as many Hall of Fame point guards as possible on his team.

No matter what Paul thought, it seemed reasonable to question whether Harden’s lax demeanor would contrast with his more intense one at some point. In a 65-win season, there aren’t too many chances for that to happen. Who knows — maybe it’s still forthcoming — but there seems like genuine love between the two.

“Not to sound too mushy, but it was love at first sight,” Harden laughed at a practice late in the regular season when asked about the pairing.

After Sunday’s win, he added: “From the summertime to now, we communicate every single day. Even though sometimes we don’t want to, we just talk. You got a lot of teams that don’t do that, that don’t love and enjoy being around each other and being on the court with each other.”

It’s not a well-kept secret that Paul had a work-only relationship in Los Angeles with his biggest co-star, Blake Griffin. It’s no surprise that many pairings around the league work just like that, some with fantastic results. Liking each other isn’t a prerequisite, but the Rockets do. That can’t hurt.

For Luc Mbah a Moute, it was clear to him from the start.

“Preseason, we got together in the summer and we started working out and playing, and from then on you could tell it was a good connection between those guys,” he said after the Game 1 win.

“They are really, really good.”

The Jazz now are the latest team to find out firsthand.