It took a while, but Shabazz Napier is now a better player than Shabazz Muhammad. It could just be because Muhammad is receiving literally no minutes right now, but you can not deny that Napier is scoring more points per game more efficiently than ever before. He’s actually… good! LeBron was right after all!
With no Lillard tonight, Napier had to step up. That’s what backup PGs have to do when they are forced into a starter’s role. They have to step up. In this case, he didn’t have to step up very far, because his previous three games had all been very good. All he had to do was keep up that production over more minutes and BAM! Starter quality PG in the house. 21 points, 5 assists, he’s really more of a scorer anyway so who cares, and one third-quarter-ending Shabazzledazzle three.