Celtics Overcome Slow Start To Take Down Bulls

PORTLAND, ME – Five players scored in double figures as the Maine Celtics shot 43.6% from beyond the arc as a team, powering them to a 111-102 victory over the Windy City Bulls. 

JD Davison led Maine (11-9) with 23 points, three rebounds and eight assists. Drew Peterson logged 19 points, five rebounds and nine assists, shooting 4-8 from long-range. DJ Steward scored 16 points and Kylor Kelley totaled 14 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Joe Wieskamp finished with 13 points and six rebounds on 5-9 from the field. 

Adama Sanogo put up 23 points and eight rebounds to lead Windy City (6-12). Henri Drell notched 21 points and eight rebounds and Evan Gilyard turned in 22 points and five assists off the bench. 

Drell got the night started with an open three, and Snell kicked it off for Maine with an easy finish at the rim. No player missed a shot until the 9:17 mark amid a slow start defensively for both sides. The Bulls settled in to build a 15-5 lead, and then Ben Coupet Jr. added a pair of threes to keep up the hot start for Windy City. By the late-first, the Bulls’ lead was up to 23-10 featuring seven from Drell, with Maine unable to make much of a push until the opening frame ended with Windy City ahead 36-22. The Bulls shot 68.2% from the field and made five 3-pointers as a team in the opening frame. 

Windy City maintained the lead at the outset of the second before Snell knocked down a corner three to make it an 11-point game. Still trailing by 11, the Celtics had tallied six 3-pointers and six forced turnovers, slowly building momentum for a run to get back in it. It didn’t take long for Wieskamp to catch fire in his new home arena; the newly-acquired guard sank a pair of triples, hit James Banks III with a nice pass out of an empty-side pick-and-roll, and Banks’ 1-for-2 cut the deficit to seven, 52-45. While Wieskamp wasn’t torching the nets, Davison was getting into the paint at will and scoring at all three levels with efficiency. He tallied 16 points in the quarter, Wieskamp had 11, and the Celtics outscored the Bulls 36-23 in the second to trim the deficit to just one, 59-58 at the half. 

The Celtics took the lead with six unanswered early in the third, vaulting ahead 64-62 in what was a totally new game in the second half. Up 70-67, Peterson nailed a three from the top of the key after a timeout. Maine went up by as many as eight before Windy City dashed the lead with an 8-0 run to tie it at 75. Gilyard drained a pair of timely threes and Young capped off the quarter with a tough mid-range step-back, handing the Bulls a two-point lead heading into the fourth, 81-79. 

Slater canned a pair of threes and Peterson’s third of the night helped the Celtics regain a two-possession lead early in the final quarter. A huge sequence for Maine in the middle of the quarter swung the game in their favor – Davison started it with a hanging layup on the break, Slater hit a side-step three, Kelley emphatically stuffed Young and Jackson on consecutive trips, and Peterson finished it off with a transition three off Kelley’s block, igniting the Expo crowd and putting the Celtics in front 103-90 in crunch time. Windy City threatened to make a run at it down the stretch with Gilyard leading the charge, but the Maine defense forced a couple key stops to solidify the win. 

Following tonight’s game, the Celtics are off for eight days for the All-Star break. Celtics fans can watch JD Davison during NBA All-Star Weekend in the G League Up Next Game on Feb. 18 at 1:00 PM, streaming live on NBAGLeague.com, the G League App, the NBA G League’s YouTube channel, and the NBA App. Jordan Jackson will be participating in the G League Dunk Contest on Feb. 17 at 2:00 PM.