Game Preview - Maine vs. Motor City - Feb. 10, 2024

Game details:             

Matchup: Maine Celtics (9-9) vs. Motor City Cruise (10-8)  

Location: Portland Expo; Portland, Maine  

Tipoff: 1:00 PM EST             

Streaming: NBC Sports Boston, NBAGLeague.com 

Off the heels of a tough loss to Motor City, the Maine Celtics have a chance to exact revenge on the Cruise in today’s matinée. 

Breaking down the last matchup: 

In Thursday’s narrow defeat, the Celtics never regained the lead after giving it up midway through the third quarter, but on the bright side, Maine also never trailed by more than six until late-game free throws stretched it out. It was a very close game throughout that could’ve gone either way in the end, but Motor City (mainly Buddy Boeheim) did enough to close it out.  

Maine’s star guards led the way last time out. JD Davison tied his career-high of 38 points on 16-29 shooting, adding five rebounds and eight assists and was a force driving and finishing at the rim. The Celtics got another efficient shooting night from Steward, who put up 22 points and shot 4-6 from deep off the bench. The third-year guard leads the team with 47 made 3-pointers in the regular season, shooting 37.6% on a high volume of attempts. Maine’s second unit outscored Motor City’s 41-13 two nights ago thanks to the help from Steward. 

Keys to the game: 

Next man up: Jordan Walsh is down in Boston with the big club today, and Davison and Steward combined for 60 in the last outing, over 50% of Maine’s 112 total points. With increased minutes and usage for the likes of Drew Peterson, Jordan Bowden, Brandon Slater and Rob Edwards, someone will step up. 

Roll into the break: Maine could use a pair of wins against Motor City today and Windy City on Wednesday, Feb. 14 to give themselves some momentum heading into the All-Star break. In the middle of a packed eastern conference, every single game is critically important.