Crushing The Numbers - Feb. 15, 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 Maine Celtics are back on track. 

In a long, strenuous NBA G League season, every team will go through a rough patch – being on the court day in and day out for over six months is bound to produce some peaks and valleys. The Celtics dropped seven games in an eight-game span from late January to early February, but it’s all about how you bounce back in this league. Since that point, Maine has ripped off five-straight victories to round out the pre-All-Star break schedule, thanks in part to the scoring dominance of Marial Shayok. 

During the Celtics’ five-game win streak, Shayok is averaging 22.6 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1.2 steals per game with an astounding 83.4 true shooting percentage, the fifth-best mark in the league over that stretch (his 22.6 points lead that group in per-game average). On the season, Shayok boats a usage rate on 21.5 percent; among players with an equal or greater rate, he’s second only to Stockton’s Neemias Queta with a 75.1 true shooting percentage. Maine Two-Way center Mfiondu Kabengele is fourth at 72.6 percent, while the rest of the leaderboard is littered with bigs and forwards. Shayok is a dynamite scorer from all three levels that hunts clean looks and knocks them down at a blistering clip, and it’s a big reason why Maine has held the league’s number one offense for much of the regular season. 

Scorching-hot shooting has been a theme for the entire Celtics squad during this recent stretch. Shayok leads the group with 3.4 threes made per game across the last five while toting the highest percentage at 58.6 percent. It’s not all him, though – November’s G League Player of the Month, Luka Šamanić hits 3.2 threes per game at a 41 percent clip while Kamar Baldwin and Reggie Kissoonlal II are both shooting an even 50 percent and making at least one triple per contest.  Of course, there’s also one of the league-leaders in three-point percentage, Eric Demers – his 61.5 percent mark from long-range ranks first among all players with 10 appearances and 1.6 threes made per game. 

Recent addition Tony Snell, a long-time NBA wing known for his efficient shooting and defensive versatility, is shooting 46.4 percent from beyond the arc on 4 attempts per game since joining the Celtics. On Feb. 10, Snell posted a G League career-high 23 points on 8-10 from the field and 3-5 from deep, adding four rebounds to help lead Maine to a win over Cleveland. With 601 career NBA appearances, Snell is by far the most experienced player on the roster; he’s looked the part of the poised, experienced veteran since the moment he got off the plane in South Portland. 

Over the last five games, the Celtics are a top-six defense – clamping down and limiting opponents to low-quality shot attempts is a crucial aspect to the team’s recent success. All season long, though, a high-octane offense has been Maine’s calling card. The Celtics’ 119.4 offensive rating is a higher mark than any NBA team’s (Denver ranks first at 117.6) and is 1.3 points higher than second-place South Bay. As a team, Maine is second in assist percentage and third in effective field goal percentage; crisp ball movement and pass-happy offense has led to an efficient balance of high-quality shots at the rim and from distance. 

After a well-earned break in between games, the Celtics will regroup for a back-to-back with the Greensboro Swarm on Feb. 24 and 25 before heading out to Los Angeles to face the South Bay Lakers and Ontario Clippers in early March. The recent hot streak saw the Celtics jump from outside the playoff bracket to third place in the Eastern Conference with 12 games remaining in the regular season. Maine may have gone through a bit of a lull after a 7-0 start, but they’re back on the upswing at the right time.