James Harden and the Houston Rockets will face Dwight Howard and the Atlanta Hawks for the first time on Saturday.

Harden and Howard were teammates for three seasons until the big man left to sign with the Hawks in free agency on a three-year, $70.5 million deal.

A source said the relationship between Howard and Harden was "cordially bad."

"Yeah we're cool," Harden said.

Harden was asked about the perception that they had friction.

"It didn't bother me. I know what the truth is, it's no beef. We never got into a heated argument. It just didn't work out."

Harden said he didn't know why the pairing didn't work.

"Trust me, if we knew, it would have worked out," he said.