Maine Celtics fall apart in second half vs Charge, eliminated in first round

After a comfortable first half, the Maine Celtics collapsed on their home floor in the final two quarters, falling short in the first round of the G-League playoffs

With over 1,500 behind them at the Portland Expo, Alex Barlow and the Maine Celtics were prepared for secured team’s first postseason win since 2017. The Cs of the north were going up against the five seed in the Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Charge, the Cavaliers G-League affiliate. During the regular season, Maine had defeated the Charge on back-to-back nights in February. In the G-League playoffs, there is little margin of error. Just a few minutes where the energy is lacking can cost the season. That is exactly what happened to this year’s iteration of the the G-League Cs.

Behind Kamar Baldwin’s 13 first half points, Maine had a comfortable 14-point lead heading into the final 24 minutes. Heading into the locker room, the Expo crowd felt confident that this team could close out a club it outlasted on both occasions just one month ago. Unfortunately, that confidence wavered quickly.

Just like its counterparts in Boston at points this season, Barlow’s side got far too comfortable with the lead. Cleveland began the second half on a 9-0 run behind Sam Merrill’s five points to cut the Maine Celtics lead down to just five. Maine only managed to score five field goals throughout the third quarter, and Davison collected three of them.

Barlow’s side got far too careless with the basketball, gifting away possessions while giving up easy buckets on the other end of the floor. The Charge got out and ran, beating the Cs down the floor more than once during the third quarter of play. 19 turnovers. That is pretty much the game right there. For Barlow’s team to win the game, they had to take care of the basketball much more consistently than what ended up happening.

Throughout the 2022/23 campaign, the Cs of the north did have a tendency to collect turnovers, but if four different players have three or more giveaways, it is difficult to win a ball game. Cleveland consistently got into the teeth of the Maine defense while the Cs struggled to keep the Charge of the offensive glass.

While the home side would recover to win the fourth quarter by one point, the lapse in the third quarter ultimately did the Maine Celtics in. Davison did his best to keep his ball club in the game, Dylan Windler and Merrill combined for a deadly duo behind the arc who accounted for 11 of the team’s 14 three-point makes. The Charge were relentless from downtown right out of the gate in the final period, not allowing the higher seed back into the game.

Luke Samanic’s absence was felt in the disastrous third quarter that cost Maine Celtics the game

The day before the playoff game, Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz signed the C’s leading scorer, Luka Samanic to a ten-day contract. Without the Croatian, Maine was left with a large hole in the interior. In the two regular season contests between the two sides, Samanic averaged 17.5 points while collecting a double double in the right matchup. While it was a well-deserved call-up for Samanic, you can only help but think would this team could have done if its leading scorer was with them on Wednesday afternoon.

He would have been a critical piece of the puzzle to prevent players like Nate Hinton, and Isaiah Mobley from earning their club an extra possession. On far too many instances, the Cs lost their focus in the second half. Samanic would have helped significantly, but that is not an excuse for the amount of lapses that Barlow’s team underwent to kick off the action in the second 24 minutes.

The ending was not exactly what this group wanted at all, but the campaign as a whole was a large step in the right direction. Playoff appearances for the Cs of the north have been hard to come by. Barlow, in his first season at the helm led Maine to a first round triumph in the G-League Winter Showcase while securing the first home playoff game in Portland for six years.

Davison grew as both as an conductor of an offense while Mfiondu Kabengele made significant improvement compared to his previous two seasons in the developmental league. While for Boston’s G-League affiliate this postseason defeat is a tough pill to swallow, you cannot help but think about all of this season’s positives along Casco Bay.