It was a night of new beginnings for three NBA stars who made their debut with their new teams during the Rockets-Thunder preseason game on Tuesday.
Carmelo Anthony and Paul George represented the Thunder for the first time since their offseason trades, while Chris Paul learned to work with co-star James Harden for the Rockets in Houston's 104-97 victory over Oklahoma City.
For Paul, the preseason opener was a continuation of working with Harden this summer. Paul had 11 points with seven assists and no turnovers.
"It felt natural," Paul said, according to ESPN.com. "We played a lot this summer, and I think that helped, spending that time talking about communicating and stuff like that. But we can always get better."
On the other side of the ball, Anthony scored the first 10 points of the game for the Thunder as George shot 6 of 13 and finished with 15 points.
George said with so many new faces in the group, their focus is about finding rhythm as they build a new team.
"Coach [Billy Donovan] is trying to tie myself in, trying to tie Melo in. And besides us two, there's a lot of new faces in this group. That's all it is — it's trying to build on both ends," George said. "He's reshaping and forming a new team himself, meaning Coach. We're all a team and we're trying to figure this out on the fly. Once Russ comes back, we'll start to trend how we're going to look and how we're going to play."
With Russell Westbrook out while he recovers from platelet-rich plasma injections in his knee, George and Anthony are still figuring out how to work best with each other on the court.
"I think sometimes we were overthinking it a little bit, trying to be too unselfish," Anthony said. "I know one time I had it on the wing and think I had a wide-open shot, and I gave it to Paul, and he shot it with like three seconds to go. And I know how that feels, so I felt bad about that. But those are the things that we'll get better at and knowing each other's game and knowing where guys are on the court and getting more comfortable."
