Maine Celtics struggle with shooting and defense in home opener loss to Westchester

On By Pranco

It was a history-making home debut for the Maine Celtics on Friday night. For better and for worse.

Alex O’Connell scored 23 points, Chuma Okeke added 20 and the Westchester Knicks defeated the cold-shooting Celtics, 127-100, in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,417 fans at the Portland Expo, making both Maine’s home opener and a night featuring J.D. Davison becomes the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.

Moses Brown added 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Knicks (3-0 through the first three games of the Tip-Off Tournament). Baylor Scheierman led Maine (1-2) with 15 points, while Jay Scrubb added 12. But offensive highlights for the Celtics were rare, and defensive stops were even rarer as Maine gave up 84 points in the first half – the most given up in a half. in team history.

“I would definitely say it wasn’t our night,” Davison said. “It was definitely their night. They made a lot of hard shots and a lot of open shots. We made a lot of good shots tonight, so we just have to go back to the drawing board, come back on Sunday and try to get a win.”

With 3:13 left in the first quarter, Davison, a 2022 draft pick out of Alabama in his third year with the team, made a free throw to put him above Chris’ former franchise record of 1,591 points. Wright from 2011-2014.

Davison entered the match with a five-point lead and fans gave him an ovation when the announcer told them about the performance.

“I just come out and try to do my job every day, try to put my best foot forward,” said Davison, who finished with 11 points and seven assists. “It sucked to be down at that point in the game, we didn’t want to lose that game… but you’ve got to love the Expo crowd.”

Celtics coach Tyler Lashbrook said Davison has earned the admiration.

“He’s a fan favorite,” Lashbrook said. “I’m always impressed with him and his maturity and his growth and his ability to grow here year after year.”

The rest of the match, however, gave the fans little reason to cheer. Playing in front of their followers for the first time since last year’s G League Finals, the Celtics’ shooting intent was completely absent. One 3-point attempt after another – open, contested or in transition – hit rim after rim, leading to a total of 15-of-44 from the field in the first half, including 6-of-27 from deep, and a halftime of 84-46. shortage.

“Through the first two games and camp, the shots were a high percentage of open 3s,” Lashbrook said. “If we get them, we have to take them. If no shots are falling, you should lean forward a little during your crash to try to get more shots.

With 3:33 left in the first quarter, Scheierman hit a 3-pointer to make it 29-19. Maine missed its next eight three-point attempts before Jordan Schakel made another with 9:28 left in the second, and the 10-point deficit grew to a 23-point gap in the process.

While the shots weren’t falling, Maine also cost itself with reckless ball-handling (14 turnovers, to four for Westchester) and a porous defense that allowed Knicks players to finish in transition or knock down open shots. The 84 points allowed in the first half broke the team record of 82 set in 2016 and achieved the same in January 2023.

“There was definitely some part of it that was related to missing shots,” Lashbrook said. ‘But to put 84 on it, there has to be more than that. For me it was about guarding the ball. We said the word ‘proud’, that was the word we were talking about. Just having the pride to guard the ball.”

One scene that told the story of the night came when Scheierman missed a 3 and Westchester’s Boo Buie grabbed the rebound and tore up the court, bobbing the ball into the Celtics’ end and still finding Donovan Williams (19 points) for an open 3. -pointer that made it 63-34.

It wasn’t all negative, as Maine ate into what became a 51-point lead during a fourth quarter in which it outscored Westchester 40-19. The big quarter could pay off later — the points differential could break seeding for the Winter Showcase, which awaits after the 14-game Tip-Off Tournament — and Lashbrook credited his team for fighting late.

“(We) were just looking for a group to come in and give us something,” said Lashbrook, who got 12 points in the fourth from Scrubb and 11 from Tristan Enaruna. “Those guys… came in and played and fought. Those are the things we’re looking for.”