With the veterans getting the night off, 20 year-old guard Keon Johnson and 19-year old rookie Shaedon Sharpe, two of the youngest players on the roster, had plenty of opportunity to display their respective skills Thursday night versus Maccabi Re’anana. And both took advantage, at least in one instance, on the same play.
Late in the third quarter, Olivier Sarr corralled a rebound off a Norris Cole miss and took one dribble before finding Johnson, who was already streaking down the left side of the court. And Sharpe, as soon as he saw Sarr had possession, took off in an effort to beat the defense down the court in transition, which he managed rather easily.
Johnson took a few more dribbled and veered to the middle of the court in order to increase his options. But he only needed one, as Sharpe was already well behind the defense, giving him a perfect lane off the baseline to the basket. All Johnson had to do was float the ball in the vicinity of the rim, leaving Sharpe the opportunity to use his uncommon athleticism to finish the highlight alley-oop dunk, his second such finish of the night.
“I told Key ‘If you get the ball and run in transition, I’m gonna be running with you,’” said Sharpe, who finished Thursday's win with 27 points on 77 percent shooting from the field, three steals, two blocks and two rebounds in 23 minutes. “He’s a great passer and he ended up finding me a couple times and I’m a great finisher, so I finished. Kinda works together.”
While their on-court chemistry was on display for the first time Thursday night in Portland’s 138-85 victory versus Maccabi Ra’anana, it’s a partnership that has developed since the Las Vegas Summer League. The shoulder injury that Sharpe suffered in the first few minutes of play in Las Vegas scuttled the previous chance to see how he and Johnson highlight each other’s skills, but it was obvious Thursday the time they have previously spent together was paying off.
“It’s just something that I like to do, especially knowing that (Sharpe) is athletic and we can get out and run,” said Johnson, who finished with 18 points and 11 assists in 31 minutes. “It just makes your job easier as a ball handler knowing that you’ve got an athletic guy that you can just put the ball anywhere around the rim and they can go get it. We’ve been talking about if we got a two-on-one break or whatever kind of break that we gonna try to connect the lob together. So ended up happening tonight, it was cool.”
It’s a bit tough to predict how many opportunities Johnson and Sharpe might get this season with the likes of Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Josh Hart and Gary Payton II all expected to play significant minutes. And times when they’ll be on the court together for significant minutes during the regular season are likely to be very limited. But after their performance Thursday night, even against a non-NBA opponent, it’s easy to envision a future in which they’re running together on a regular basis.
“This game is kind of young and athletic nowadays,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “Both of those guys, they’ve got decent size, but that athleticism, they play so much bigger than their stature. And what I love about both of them is their athleticism is on display every time they play. So it’s not like they have it and they don’t use it. They use it, and that’s what we try to get out of them all the time. It’s good to see their confidence continue to get better and better.”