NBA History Hasn't Seen Many 1-2 Punches Like James Harden and Chris Paul

HOUSTON — Irv Roland, the Houston Rockets player development coach, heard it over and over again this past summer. We all did. 

"I had 1,000 conversations with people saying these dudes couldn't play together," he recently posted on Instagram, referring to Chris Paul and James Harden.

The thought itself wasn't completely unwarranted. Despite both being all-world performers, they each had reputations as ball-dominant point guards, and both, admittedly, hadn't found much success in the postseason. And yet, Roland never bought in.

"When [Paul] came here, he felt, 'I'm going to be able to play off the ball; I have another playmaker. I can just spot up, save my legs. I don't have to do everything,'" Roland said.

Their history has led them to this point. They are metals refined in separate, yet similar fires.

They've both been critiqued ad nauseam for their postseason failures, as though it's exclusively their faults that their respective teams haven't won. It's a criticism that doesn't hold up against even the most cursory scrutiny.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, Paul and Harden are third and seventh, respectively, in postseason win shares per 48 minutes among active players with at least 2,000 minutes played. The other five players include four Finals MVPs (LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant and Dirk Nowitzki) and four regular-season MVPs (Durant, Nowitzki, James and Stephen Curry).

Despite their own individual performances, they haven't had enough help. Neither has ever had a First-Team All-NBA teammate when he was the leader. That was the impetus in their coming together.

While Paul missed All-Star selection year, he's an All-Star-caliber player, and Harden's defense of him with ESPN's Tim McMahon after the snub is just another indication of how much the pair like one another:

"Obviously, we have a lot of depth on this team, but I'm not out here doing it by myself," he said. "He's controlling these games, as well. When I was out, you see the show he was putting on? You see what he's been doing the last couple of games? I don't know what we're rewarding now."

It's working. They've won 21 games against just three losses this season when sharing the court, and most of those have been blowouts, with an average margin of 10.9 points. Thirteen of the games settled by double digits. 

Together, they are arguably the most lethal 1-2 punch in the NBA. Based on ESPN's Real Plus-Minus (maybe the best metric for individual impact on team success), they are first and second, with an average RPM of 6.16. By comparison, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are at 5.90.

Suddenly, Houston is getting mentioned in the same breath as the Warriors. More than the Cleveland Cavaliers or San Antonio Spurs, the Rockets are the one hope of preventing the Warriors from extending their dynasty another season.

Finding a "True Playmaker"

Few people know both Harden and Paul better than Roland. His connection to Harden goes back to Harden's freshman year at Arizona State, while his link to Paul began when he was an assistant with the then-New Orleans Hornets. 

Eric Christian Smith/Associated Press

There was a lot of skepticism about the two superstars sharing the ball ahead of this season. Roland explained to Bleacher Report why they wanted to play together regardless:

"You look at Chris' time in L.A. He had really good wing scorers, but [he had] no one else he could give the ball to, play off the ball and trust them that if the play shuts down on them, they're going to kick it to the next guy. The guys he had were bucket-getters, and they were really good, but not another true playmaker.

"The same thing has been true here. The guys James has had are really good catch-and-shoot guys or really good scorers, but not another good overall distributor."

Bob Levey/Getty Images

In Houston, there's no competition for shots or glory between the two stars. They're feed one another at important times, like on this play Roland posted to his Instagram account:

While they are a joint leadership, Paul and Harden are distinct in many ways, too. 

"Their styles are a little different, because of James being able to throw his body around and be more aggressive," Roland said. "Chris [is] more manipulative in pick-and-roll situations."

Paul is a hypnotist. The dribble is his favored method of entrancement. It's almost as if the steady thump-thump-thump of the ball synchronizes with the defender's heartbeat, lulling the opponent's attention away from what Paul wants to do.

He'll probe in, back out and move his teammates around with a wave of his hand, which pulls the defenders along as though they're all puppets attached to invisible strings. And then, when he has everything set up the way he wants, he'll either pull up for a shot or hit a teammate with an perfect pass.

Harden is an illusionist who exhibits an old-man game with a modern offense in mind.

He'll dribble the ball high and dare a defender to reach in for it. And when one does, he'll pull up his arms and trap the man in a foul. Hate the move if you want, but it's legal, effective and it allows Harden 10.1 shots from the charity stripe per game.

Other times, he'll deftly turn his dribble into a pass by flinging the ball to a corner for Trevor Ariza or Eric Gordon, or he'll lob it up in one seamless motion indistinguishable from his dribble, for the long arms of Clint Capela to flush it at the rim.

Even more impressive is Harden's seeming ability to bend time to his will. If you get up too close to him, he'll blow past you. If you back too far off, he'll pull up and drain a three. In both instances, he seems to move fast and slow simultaneously.

With his passing and scoring put together, he might be the hardest man in the NBA to defend, as evidenced by his 60-point triple-double—the league's first ever. 

Based on my research with help from data at Basketball Reference, only one player in NBA history has produced 50 points per game (passing and scoring combined) with a true shooting percentage over 60: Harden last year (56.0/61.3) and Harden this year (52.9/62.0).

To date this season, Harden and Paul haven't been held below 69 points combined scoring and passing in a single game. 

As a result, Houston shoots a 56.2 effective field-goal percentage off of Paul's passes and 55.5 percent off of Harden's, per NBA.com. Harden and Paul go out of their ways to set teammates up for shots they like. 

"If you're standing there and I'm thinking, '[You haven't] shot the ball in a while," Roland said, "and I just dribble and say, 'Hey, you take it,' that's not putting you in a good situation; that's just throwing you the basketball. But if I come down and say, 'We're gonna run this wide pin-down into a step-up to get [you] a good shot,' I need to set you up for the shot you like."

"They make the game so much easier," veteran forward P.J. Tucker said, "They get so much attention and keep the ball intact. For role players like me, it makes the game easier. You just spot up and shoot your threes." 

History Already in the Making

The thing that makes the Paul-Harden combo especially effective is that their success comes as much from what they do individually as what they do together. One of them needs to take over the game? Done. Time to get the other involved? Done again.

The real impact is visible in their combined average points scored and assisted on. Harden averages 53.5 per game, Paul 40.1. That total of 93.6 is the largest of any pairing in NBA history by a considerable margin, according to original research based on data at Basketball Reference.

Tandem	Season	Total Points
Chris Paul an James Harden	2017-18	93.6
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving	2016-17	87.9
Wilt Chamberlain and Guy Rodgers	1962-63	86.5
Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant	2015-16	84.6
Karl Malone and John Stockton	1989-90	82.8
Wilt Chamberlain and Paul Arizin	1961-62	82.2

There are a few caveats here. Three-point assist data isn't available before 2000-01. Games where only one of the stars plays can inflate the averages a bit, since they don't have to share the ball. Also, some of those assists are going to be the other star, "double-counting" those points. 

So, I looked at just the games where Paul and Harden played together: 

On average, they combine for 89.04 points per game, 85.5 after accounting for the 3.5 points they assist one another. 

Only two duos in history top that with unadjusted numbers: Kyrie Irving and LeBron James last year (who NBA.com says assisted each other on 4.8 points per game), and Guy Rodgers and Wilt Chamberlain (one can assume that at least one of Rodgers' assists per game was to Chamberlain). 

Paul and Harden aren't only the most productive 1-2 punch in the NBA right now—they might be the most productive ever. That argument is stronger when you consider that both of them have true shooting percentages over 61 while collecting at least five rebounds each per game.

Only two other players have averaged 19 points, 8.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds with a true shooting percentage over 60: James and Magic Johnson. The fact that teammates are doing this is phenomenal.

While Paul has always been an elite defender (seven First-Team All-Defensive awards and two Second-Team honors), Harden has gradually improved his defense. But this year is his best yet. It's apparent in his low-post defense, when he switches on power forwards. You see it in his perimeter defense, which stays engaged. It was evident when he blocked Stephen Curry's shot in the fourth quarter of the most recent Warriors game. 

His numbers reflect that as well. His minus-0.66 Defensive Real Plus-Minus is a career high. He's also tied for his best season in steals (1.9) and blocks (0.7). 

It's also a big reason why this year is different from other seasons. For the first time, each has a companion to match his skills. And the duo embracing their roles together could finally lead them to postseason success.