Showcase Game Preview - Maine vs. Salt Lake City - Dec. 20, 2023
By Maine Celtics Staff /December 20, 2023
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Game details:
Matchup: Maine Celtics vs. Salt Lake City Stars
Location: Orange County Convention Center; Orlando, Fla.
Tip-off: 8:30 PM EST
Streaming: NBA App, NBAGLeague.com
One more game at the Winter Showcase, and then it’s on to the regular season.
The Maine Celtics suffered a narrow loss at the hands of the Austin Spurs on Tuesday afternoon but are presented with a bounce-back opportunity just over a day later to wrap up the Showcase. Today’s opponent; the Salt Lake City Stars, G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz.
This is the first meeting between these teams since Jan. 16, 2020, when Maine claimed a 107-103 victory at the Expo behind a 27-point, 14-rebound performance from Yante Maten and a double-double from Tacko Fall. Maine is 4-0 against the Stars since they moved to Salt Lake and changed names from the Idaho Stampede in 2017 – let’s see if we can keep the streak alive tonight.
Breaking down the Stars:
We’d be remiss not to mention it right off the top; former Boston Celtic Romeo Langford matches up against his old squad tonight. Langford played seven games with Maine during his rookie season, averaging 10.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in the G League. He spent a year and a half in Boston after that prior to landing in San Antonio as part of the trade that netted Derrick White for the Celtics. The Indiana high school basketball legend then played the 2022-23 season with the Spurs before joining Salt Lake this season, where he’s averaging 7.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game and shooting 45.5% from downtown in 11 appearances.
The Stars offense is supported by a pair of rookie assignment players in Taylor Hendricks and Brice Sensabaugh. Hendricks, the ninth pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.7 stocks (steals+blocks) per game, expanding on his shot creation portfolio and flashing the defensive upside that got him drafted in the top-10 back in June. Sensabaugh went 28th in the draft and missed Summer League with a knee injury but has burst onto the scene in the G League with averages of 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists on 45/39/92 shooting splits.
Another former first-round draft pick shoulders a hefty scoring load as well. Josh Christopher, the 24th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets, is now on a Two-Way with Utah averaging 17.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists with the Stars. Two-Way wing Johnny Juzang leads the team in scoring at 20.6 per game with impressive efficiency; Juzang shoots 52.6% from the field, 45.9% from deep on 6.1 3PA per game, and 84.6% from the line. At 17.1 points per game, Micah Potter averages the fewest points of any Two-Way on the Stars, but he does balance it out with 10.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks while offering legitimate floor-spacing at the five at 43.4% on 6.3 3PA per contest. Utah hit it big with its Two-Ways in terms of G League production.
Salt Lake City boasts a top-10 offense and bottom-10 defense, a similar profile to yesterday’s opponent, the Austin Spurs. The Stars are one of the few teams more efficient from three than the Celtics, too; Maine ranks fifth in 3-point percentage at 37% while Salt Lake City’s 37.7% mark has them third. Thankfully, the Stars don’t match efficiency with volume as they take just 35.6 threes per game, the 22nd-most in the league.
Keys to the game:
Glass cleaners: Again, the Celtics have an opportunity to assert themselves on the boards. Maine is sixth in the league in rebounding percentage (51.5%) while the Stars are 22nd (49.2%). This season, Maine is 6-2 when it outrebounds its opponent and 2-5 when it does not. Coincidence? Probably not.
Stay hot under the sun: The Stars are a fast-paced, efficient offense, much like the Spurs. Salt Lake City ranks in the top-6 in field goal, 3-point and free throw percentage while playing at the league’s seventh-fastest pace. Maine can shoot the rock with the best of them, though; perhaps the warm air in the Sunshine State can help the Celtics stay hot from beyond the arc after shooting 18-38 (47.4%) from beyond the arc in Tuesday’s loss.