WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — On the back of a resounding home win to open up their playoff run, the Maine Celtics traveled to White Plains, New York, on Thursday night for their second-round postseason tilt against the Westchester Knicks. It was a matchup with some history, as these two sides have been involved in tight-knit, chippy games all regular season long.
Westchester center and former NBAer Moses Brown had his fingerprints all over the game on Thursday night. Maine’s hot start and impressive defense helped them jump out to an early lead, but Brown’s paint presence helped the Knicks climb all the way back.
Westchester stormed back in the fourth quarter after Maine, led by JD Davison, extended their lead to 16 points late in the third. By the final few minutes, the Knicks were within striking distance, but Davison, Miles Norris, and Jordan Walsh came up big for Maine in the clutch.
The Celtics finished the night with a 124-118 win, advancing to the G League Eastern Conference finals for the second year in a row.
Here are 10 notes from the game.
1. Support from Boston
Davison, Walsh, and Drew Peterson appeared in the Celtics’ loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday, but they also made the journey to Westchester for Maine’s playoff game on Thursday.
Tyler Lashbrook threw all three in the starting lineup alongside two-way player Norris and big man James Banks III.
"They were gonna play this game no matter what," Lashbrook said after the win. "And that just kind of speaks to their resilience and their grit and the way that they're wired and the way that they're built, and how much they care about this team and the guys in that locker room."
2. JD Davison truly is the MVP
Just one day after being officially named the 2024-25 G League MVP and two days after his monster 38-point, 12-assist performance in Maine’s playoff win over the Capital City Go-Go on Tuesday, Davison was back in action.
From jump, Davison looked like the most comfortable player on the floor. He looked like the MVP. Everywhere he went, offense followed. Davison meticulously picked his spots, weaving in and out of the Knicks’ defense.
However, Davison’s scoring wasn’t nearly as effective as it was against the Go-Go. Westchester upped their pressure against Davison starting in the second quarter, and they upped the pressure throughout the game.
The MVP adapted by emphasizing his playmaking role, however, and still managed to give the Knicks trouble. And by the time the third quarter was done, Davison had reestablished his control of the game.
He completely took over in the third, stretching what was once a tie game to a 16-point Maine lead.
"I just know he can hoop," Walsh said of Davison. "He's really good at just controlling the pace of the game. I feel like late in the game today, he showed a lot of leadership, slowing us down and getting us all together. Me particularly, [me] specifically, but I feel like he plays that role, and he takes charge of it the whole game.
"I feel like it shows in his stats, but I feel like a lot of people also underestimate the fact that he's commanding the floor and telling guys where to go, telling them what to do, getting everybody on the same page, which is really important. "
For Walsh, that leadership was important, especially as the game got chippy.
"Yeah, after I pushed that guy on the free-throw line, he was like, 'Get off the free-throw line and go stand back there,'" Walsh recalled. "And I was like, 'Alright, cool,' and I just walked off. I was mad, but I walked off."
"I just told him to go down there, calm down, just worry about the next thing, worry about the next shot, or whatever that case may be," Davison said of the moment. "But trying to lead the guys. I have the ball in my hand a lot of times, so they believe in me, so I believe in them. So, once I tell them something, I think they listen."
With roughly four minutes to go in the third quarter, Davison had just 14 points. In the last four minutes of the third, as the Knicks were inching toward a comeback, he dropped 13.
Davison finished the night with 32 points, four rebounds, and 17 assists while shooting 13-of-28 from the floor and 3-of-10 from deep.
3. Moses Brown was a beast
As noted, Brown was the X-factor in this game. The Knicks went as he went, and seemingly every time they made a run, it was because he was dominating the paint.
Rebound after rebound, dunk after dunk, and-one after and-one, Brown kept the Knicks propped up through the first three quarters. It took a full team effort for Maine to contain him.
"I think we held Moses to under 30 [rebounds]," Davison said with a laugh.
Brown ended the game with 27 points and 26 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards, on 10-of-16 shooting.
4. James Banks III foul trouble
Brown’s dominance had some unfortunate effects for Maine outside of the points and rebounds alone. Banks got into early foul trouble, leaving them to roll with Kavion Pippen and some no-big lineups to deal the Knicks big man.
Banks picked up three fouls in his first three minutes of action, and in the G League, each player only gets five before they foul out.
"Yeah, we had come in with some backup plans of how we're going to do it. And Tristan did a great job," said Lashbrook. "I would say, all of our guys really battled. Kavion Pippen came in and gave us some stints right there, Has [Hason Ward] was winded because he was playing so hard, and Banks told us he wasn't going to go home with any fouls left.
"So, that's the type of game it was, and that's the type of resilience that we needed. Tristan, I think, has sort of shown all year for us, that he can come in and he can guard a bunch of different positions. He can be in switching, we can keep him in coverage, and we trust him to rebound. That's that's been, really how he's made his impact."
Banks did, in fact, foul out, but he put up four points and grabbed five boards, four of which came on the offensive end, before he night ended.
5. Tristan Enaruna pick-me-up
With Banks in foul trouble, Maine relied on some unique defensive looks to slow Brown down, but Tristan Enaruna also got thrown into the fire a bit. The forward was left to battle down low with the big fella for long stretches, particularly in the second quarter.
Enaruna also gave the Celtics a nice little boost on the offensive end around that time, as when Brown sunk back into the paint on defense, he was there to make the Knicks pay from deep.
He finished the game with eight points, three rebounds, and three assists on 3-of-9 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from deep.
6. Jordan Schakel minutes
Speaking of making the Knicks pay from deep, that’s exactly what Jordan Schakel did, and the Celtics desperately needed his buckets. When Davison was on the sidelines, Maine’s offense went off the rails a bit, but Schakel stepped up.
Even when Davison got back in the game, Schakel remained a lethal threat from beyond the arc. Combined with his hustle on defense and intensity on both ends, he gave Maine a huge boost off the pine.
Schakel had 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from behind the three-point line.
7. Jordan Walsh redemption
Walsh didn’t have the best game on Tuesday night against the Go-Go. But in Westchester, with Maine’s season once again on the line, he stepped up.
"The first thing I told him is that we need him to rebound, and he ended up with 11 of them," said Lashbrook. "And so, love that. Loved him showing a little passion there at the end/ Showing some fight. Thought that was a really good job to welcome him to the team when he showed a little fight like that."
The 21-year-old did a ton of damage on the boards and in the scoring column, but his points weren’t even primarily from three. Walsh did a great job of getting inside and making stuff happen in the paint.
Even late in the game, with Westchester on the brink of a comeback, Walsh nabbed a steal on an inbound pass and threw down a monster dunk to give Maine a boost.
Whenever Maine needed someone to help propel them forward, Walsh and Davison were there. And for Walsh, who was on the Maine team that lost in last year's G League Finals, this run is important.
"It's as important as the Celtics, the Boston Celtics going on their playoff run," Walsh said. "[All] of us have a goal of getting somewhere and winning something, and so for me, having unfinished business from last year, coming down here to be able to beat a team that beat me when I was here last year, early in the season, it felt good to get that get-back.
"And I heard that there was a little convtroversy, there was a little scuffle last game they were here, and so it was real personal for everybody. So, I had to come in and bring my energy. "
Walsh took that energy and transferred it into silencing the crowd at Westchester County Center. He took great joy in that process.
"I remember, I was at the free-throw line and some fans were just chriping at me," Walsh said with a smile. "Like, 'You suck, you suck.' And I'm just looking like, 'Okay, watch this' So, of course they're gonna talk when they're up. So we ended up cutting it back and extending the lead again, and I looked at that same section of fans, I don't know who was. And I was just like, 'Huh? What? What?'. And everybody was quiet, and it was the greatest feeling ever."
Walsh ended the evening with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists while shooting 8-of-16 from the field and 2-of-4 from distance.
8. Miles Norris’ shooting
The entire Maine roster had a nice night from beyond the arc, but Norris was the star of the show. His three-point shooting was a huge reason why the Celtics were able to jump out to an early lead, and he picked things back up late in the fourth, too.
Norris joined the Celtics organization at the beginning of March after the team waived Anton Watson, and since then, he's been working to get more and more comfortable. Now, he's finally finding his groove.
"Definitely [more comfortable]," Norris said. "The first couple weeks just getting a feel for the guys, the style of play, and stuff. But I've played enough games, practiced enough with the team. I feel really comfortable out there. And a lot of guys help me out as well. Playing with JD, great leader, great point guard, it's pretty easy out there, playing with him."
Norris had 27 points and five rebounds on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor and 4-of-7 shooting from deep.
9. Clutch-time Davison and clutch-time Norris
It all comes back to Davison. As Westchester battled back slowly but surely, Davison wasn’t rattled. Nothing sped him up or threw him off rhythm. Not even a little bit.
With under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Knicks nailed a three to bring them within five points. Davison got the ball, waltzed down the other end, got to his spot, and sunk a mid-range jumper.
Cool, calm, and collected.
Norris drew a couple of crucial fouls in the final few minutes, too. With roughly 30 seconds to go, after Westchester nabbed a huge momentum-swinging inbound steal, Norris sealed the game.
He played great defense on a Pacome Dadiet three-point attempt that would have inched the Knicks closer, forced a miss, and then ran the floor for an and-one dunk in transition.
"We've been here before," Davison said of Maine's clutch moments. "We knew what was gonna happen. We knew they was gonna make a run, like I said. But then again, everybody stayed composed. We didn't make shots down that stretch, but everybody made plays. Everybody rebounded... I think everybody was locked in. We watched film, I think everybody competed, and we pulled out a win."
10. Chuma Okeke contract
In the first half, Chuma Okeke was a big part of the Knicks’ rotation. But he didn’t end up playing much in the second half.
That’s because, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, the Cleveland Cavaliers inked him to a contract. The announcement came mid-way through the game.
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