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Grand Rapids Drive

BENCH DUO LEADS RED CLAWS TO CLOSE WIN OVER DRIVE

November 17, 2017 - NBA G League (G League)
Grand Rapids Drive News Release


PORTLAND - The Maine Red Claws (4-1) came out on top of a back-and-forth battle with the Grand Rapids Drive (4-3) at home on Thursday night as they held on for a 99-96 victory. The game had 12 lead changes and was tied 10 times, and was close down to the final seconds.

Both of Grand Rapids' two-way players, Luis Montero and Dwight Buycks, had opportunities to tie the game with three-pointers in the final five seconds but neither was able to convert and Maine escaped.

Jabari Bird and L.J. Peak each had 23 points for Maine as they tied for the lead among all scorers. Peak and Trey Davis combined for 44points off the bench to provide a huge spark for the Red Claws, compared to 46 points from all their starters combined.

Grand Rapids had an impressively balanced scoring attack with eight players scoring at least eight points, but nobody had more than Derek Willis' 18 points. Willis also had 10 rebounds for the game's only double-double. A large component of the Red Claws' win was their ability to contain Dwight Buycks, the Drive's leading scorer who entered the contest sixth in the G League in points per game. Buycks was just 3-of-15 from the floor.

Maine was outrebounded 44-41, but they managed to snap Landry Nnoko's streak of four consecutive double-doubles with at least 12 rebounds as he recorded nine points and eight rebounds as he was in foul trouble for the whole game. The Red Claws won the game despite leaving several points on the board by shooting just 17-of-26 from the foul line for 65.4 percent.

Aside from free throw shooting accuracy, the teams ended up with largely similar stats after trading blows for 48 minutes. A couple exceptions were the Drive's 22 fast break points to 10 for Maine, and the Red Claws making up for that with slight advantages in points in the paint and second-chance points.

Both teams got leads that looked promising at one point, as the Drive had an eight-point lead halfway through the second quarter and the Red Claws held a ten-point lead halfway through the third. But neither team was able to keep their opponent out of striking distance of the lead for more than a couple possessions.

The Drive dropped their third game in a row and also their third in a row by three points or less. The good news for them is this game concluded their four-game road trip and they head back home to play Canton on Saturday. The Red Claws will also head to the Midwest, looking to improve to 5-1 against the Wisconsin Herd the same day.

Check out the Grand Rapids Drive Statistics

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