Warriors tout 'comfortability' with Chris Paul to open season - ESPN

SAN FRANCISCO — Chris Paul hovered around midcourt sizing up his much larger former teammate Jusuf Nurkic. With two quick dribbles, Paul dashed around the 6-foot-11 center and made a beeline for the hoop.

He pumped the ball once, skirted around Josh Okogie and made a layin while drawing contact. As he made his way to the free throw line, «CP3!» chants broke out in Chase Center.

Considering Paul's history with his new franchise — and its fan base — it was an odd sight.

«I couldn't help but laugh,» Paul said. «It was a first.»

In his first official game as a Warrior, Paul finished with 14 points on 4-of-15 shooting, nine assists and six rebounds in Golden State's season-opening 108-104 loss to the Phoenix Suns.

«I'm really excited,» Paul said. «There are a lot of good things we did tonight, a lot of not great things, but the freedom — the pull-up 3s that I got a chance to shoot — when we are playing with guys that shoot it as good as Steph [Curry] and Klay [Thompson], consistently… you got a lot more space out there.»

While Paul's past with Golden State — namely during his time with the LA Clippers — makes for a surprising marriage, there's a benefit to it on the court.

There was one play in particular that stood out to Paul that illustrated that: He came off a ball screen, threw the ball to the top and ran to the corner for an open 3.

«I looked over at Steph and said, 'That's your s---.' That's what he usually does,» Paul said. «We've all played against each other so much that we sort of know how we can be complementary together.»

There are aspects to Paul's game the Warriors are grateful to have — such as how drew a foul on Devin Booker to get into the bonus in the third quarter.

A year ago, Paul baited Jonathan Kuminga