Oklahoma City Takes Down Maine For Title

PORTLAND, ME – The Maine Celtics went ahead by three in the opening minutes of the game, but it was all Oklahoma City from that point onward as the Blue earned a 117-100 win to seal a 2-1 series victory in the NBA G League Finals presented by YouTube TV. 

JD Davison led Maine with 22 points, 10 assists and four steals. Joe Wieskamp scored 13 points and Drew Peterson had 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Brandon Slater chipped in 11 points. 

Ousmane Dieng paced Oklahoma City with 25 points, six rebounds and four assists and Jahmi’us Ramsey turned in 18 points off the bench. Lindy Waters III logged 15 points and 11 rebounds and Keyontae Johnson put up 14 points. Olivier Sarr posted 10 points and 13 rebounds. 

Davison splashed a right elbow pull-up on the game’s opening possession, and Dieng hit a contested corner three to get the night started for Oklahoma City. Maine went in front early, but a hard drive from Dieng put the Blue in front 9-8 by the first timeout break. From there, a 9-2 Blue run stretched the lead to seven before Wieskamp quelled it with a 1-for-2. Maine’s defense started strong as ever, but Oklahoma City came through with numerous tough shots while the Celtics struggled to gain rhythm from beyond the arc. By the end of the first, the Blue were shooting 55% from the field, helping them to a seven-point lead after one, 29-22. 

Starting with a spinning lefty lay-in from Peterson, the Celtics opened the second frame with a 12-4 run to knot it up at 34 by the seven-and-a-half-minute mark. Once Maine caught up, it turned into a back-and-forth game for the middle portion of the quarter, but the Blue turned on the jets to close out the half. The Celtics got within two, 42-40, but Oklahoma City responded with a 21-0 run over the last five minutes and six seconds of the second quarter. Maine shot just 35.6% as a team in the first 24 minutes as the Blue took a commanding 23-point lead into the locker room, 63-40. 

Sarr flipped one over his left shoulder to open the third, Flagler hit a triple, and Johnson buried a 19-footer to extend Oklahoma City’s run to 28-0 dating back to the second quarter. The Celtics gave the Expo crowd some life with a lob from Peterson to Queta, and though the Blue went up by as many as 30 points, Maine trimmed the deficit back down to 16, 74-58 after holding Oklahoma City scoreless for over two minutes. A prompt 7-0 run pushed the Blue lead back to 23, and they got it up to 25 by the end of the quarter, 92-67. 

The Celtics brought it back to a 20-point game early in the fourth quarter on an 8-footer from Peterson. Davison went on a 5-0 solo run that made it a 15-point game, 108-93, but the Blue staved off any comeback attempt Maine made all night long, and they put a bow on it late in the fourth. Oklahoma City claimed the franchise’s third NBA G League championship with the victory, winning back-to-back elimination games to bounce back from a 1-0 series deficit. 

Maine’s season ends with its first-ever NBA G League Finals appearance.