Crushing The Numbers - Jan. 26, 2023

Want to know exactly how the Maine Celtics are getting it done on the court? Each week, Crushing the Numbers will take a deep dive into the G League stats to see what the numbers say about which areas the team has excelled in and what they’re looking to improve on in practice. 

The neck-breaking speed at which JD Davison plays basketball lends itself to frequent highlight-worthy plays in the open court. Over the course of the last month, the Boston Celtics’ Two-Way rookie has made his mark on the G League not only as a finisher, but also as a playmaker. 

Over a four-game stretch from Jan. 10 to 22, Davison recorded an astounding 52 assists with just 13 turnovers, the second-most assists tallied in four games in Maine franchise history (Tim Frazier had 59 in four games in 2014-15). The rookie ranks fourth in the league in assists per game at 9.1 and is a main reason the Celtics’ ball movement influences their success on offense. As a result, Davison was transferred to Boston for the big club’s recent road trip to Florida, along with fellow Two-Way player Mfiondu Kabengele. Both Maine Celtics appeared in the game against Orlando on Jan. 23 and were with the team for the showdown with Miami on Jan. 25. 

While Davison and Kabengele were with Boston, Maine was hit with a series of injuries. Denzel Valentine had been sidelined since the Grand Rapids road trip, and then Luka Šamanić entered health and safety protocols and Scottie Lindsey missed a game with an injury. Thankfully, head coach Alex Barlow is armed with a deep bench. Reggie Kissoonlal II and A.J. Reeves, both Affilliate Players that signed Exhibit 10 contracts with Boston last fall, made the first start of their G League careers against Lakeland. Kissoonlal tallied eight points in that game and followed it up with seven blocks in his second start versus Fort Wayne. Reeves scored nine points in his start against Lakeland and added six off the bench against the Mad Ants. 

Following a nuclear shooting performance against Fort Wayne that saw him go 6-9 from beyond the arc, Eric Demers jumped to the top of the leaderboards in three-point percentage. The second-year pro is shooting 63.2 percent from deep, the highest mark in the league among players with at least five attempts. Maine has been shorthanded in the last three games, but every player on the Celtics works hard in practice to stay ready in order to be able to make an impact whenever their number is called. 

Despite a couple of losses in the last week, the Celtics have remained atop the league in multiple different offensive categories with the help of some reliable vets, Kamar Baldwin and Marial Shayok. Though Baldwin is a G League rookie, he’s a seasoned pro after two seasons in Europe, and that experience shows in his game. Defenses can’t speed him up easily and the shiftiness in his handle allows him to slither by defenders on the way to the rim. In the last five games, Baldwin is 15th in the league with 7 assists per game, helping Maine hold onto second place in assist percentage (66.1). Against the Mad Ants, he scored a G League career-high of 28 points and grabbed a personal best 11 rebounds, just two games after setting his previous career-high in scoring with 23 against the Magic. 

On the other hand, Shayok is a dynamite shooter from all three levels. Among players that have appeared in at least 10 games, Shayok is second in true shooting percentage (75 percent) and his 20.3 points per game ranks second among that same group. In a win over Lakeland on Jan. 22, the former All-G League teamer put up a season-high 32 points to snap a three-game skid, hitting three daggers from deep in crunch time to lead the Celtics to a win. 

The Celtics have had many obstacles thrown at them on and off the court over the last few weeks, and the players and staff have faced them head-on and kept pushing. With some much-needed rest and improved health, the Celtics are shaping up in just time for the stretch run into the All-Star break.