Acquired last summer in exchange for cash considerations from the Orlando Magic, the Portland Trail Blazers knew they were getting a capable playmaker in point guard Shabazz Napier to run the offense when needed. With Evan Turner, the team's tertiary ballhandler behind guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, sidelined with a broken right hand, Napier has injected much needed energy and flash into the Blazer offense off the bench since the All-Star break.
Napier showed off that gusto in the second quarter of Thursday night's 114-108 overtime victory over the Philadelpia 76ers at Moda Center, leading a fastbreak and threading a pass -- in-stride -- between his own legs to a trailing Allen Crabbe for an attempted dunk turned layup.
"I played a lot of street ball, lot of concrete ball as a youngin’," the Roxbury, Mass. native recalled the pass in the locker room after the game. "That's where that came from.
"I don’t know if it caught [Crabbe] off guard… Probably, but he was able to catch it and do something with it. I was fortunate for him to catch that."
Crabbe, knowing Napier's penchant for highlight-reel passes, admitted he was taken aback a little bit by the pass and was happy to see his attempt fall through the net.
"I knew he was going to pass it, but I didn’t know he was going between the legs with it," said Crabbe. "I’m just glad I could finish it and didn’t mess up the play."
Joked Napier: "I was expecting him to try to dunk it, but I guess his leg gave out."
Check out all angles of the pass below.