Celtics Demolish Nets For 2nd Straight Win

PORTLAND, ME – The Maine Celtics were firing on all cylinders at the Expo on Sunday afternoon, cruising past the Long Island Nets, 134-95 in the team’s highest-scoring game of the season so far. 

Boston assignee Jordan Walsh led all scorers with 24 points, adding six rebounds and two assists for Maine (2-2). Two-Way guard JD Davison tallied 22 points, four rebounds and 11 assists with only two turnovers and Jordan Schakel scored 22 points on 8-11 shooting (6-8 3P). DJ Steward turned in 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on 8-10 shooting in 22 minutes played. Tony Snell posted 15 points and six rebounds and Taylor Funk had 12 points. 

Two-Way guard Keon Johnson led Long Island (3-2) with 14 points and six assists and Kyler Edwards chipped in 11 points. Brooklyn assignee Dariq Whitehead, Two-Way forward Jalen Wilson and Jordan Hall all scored 10 points, with Wilson adding seven rebounds. 

Snell buried a trailing three on the break for the game’s first points, with Walsh following suit a few trips later to get Maine off and running. The Celtics’ shooters picked up where they left off on Friday night, coming out of the gates scorching hot en route to a 15-4 lead at the first timeout break. Maine’s lead built to 26-4 before Long Island came alive with a 12-4 run that forced head coach Blaine Mueller into a timeout. Davison checked out after a quick eight points, and by the time he checked back in, the Nets were face guarding and denying him the ball as soon as he crossed halfcourt. The Celtics led 32-21 after the opening frame, controlling the flow of the game thanks to Davison’s 10 points, three rebounds and four assists in only 10 minutes of play. 

Long Island scored four points to get within 10 at the start of the second half, but Schakel sank a pair of threes to quiet the budding run. Davison controlled all facets of the game during his minutes this afternoon, tallying 12 points, three rebounds and seven assists by the time he hit the bench in the second quarter. The Celtics held serve for the remainder of the game, leading by double-digits since the early run to open the game – a balanced shot diet of threes and open layups had the offense humming all afternoon. Davison, Schakel and Steward had combined for 38 of Maine’s 55 points as the Nets sat at 38 points as a team midway through the second, and Maine’s lead lengthened to 70-47 by halftime. Maine’s highest-scoring half of the season saw them shoot 59% from the field and 13-20 from downtown as a team. 

In some cases, a team that’s built a lead as big as Maine had takes its foot off the gas, but not the Celtics. Maine was up by 28 by the eight-minute mark of the third, and Snell’s third triple of the night pushed it to a 30-point stiff arm. Long Island moved the ball with purpose in the second half and generated more high-quality shots, but the Celtics’ offense just didn’t let up. The second unit upheld the pace set by the starters as they lead stayed above 30 for most of the quarter, and Maine led 109-77 after three. 

Maine’s high-octane offense kept the wheels turning in the fourth as the lead ballooned to as much as 47 points. Funk canned a couple of threes, Jordan Jackson checked in for his Maine debut with his mother, WNBA legend Sheryl Swoopes sitting courtside, and the Celtics coasted to a 39-point victory to improve to 2-0 at the Expo on the season. 

Now that the two-game home set with Long Island is complete, the Celtics head back out for a five-game road trip beginning in Greensboro, N.C. on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Maine’s next home game is on Dec. 6 against the Delaware Blue Coats.