Maine Celtics Top Capital City to Improve to 8-2
November 30, 2022 - NBA G League (G League)
Maine Celtics News Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Maine Celtics, presented by Unum, came back from a fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Capital City Go-Go, 116-114 behind big performances from Luka Šamanić and Denzel Valentine.
Šamanić led Maine (8-2) with 33 points and 11 rebounds, his NBA G League-leading 9th double-double of the season. Valentine scored 11 of his 20 points in the 4th quarter, shooting 4-7 from beyond the arc, and added 10 boards in the win. Two-Way Player JD Davison added 20 points and 7 assists for the Celtics, who were playing without fellow Two-Way Player Mfiondu Kabengele. Marial Shayok scored 16 points, while Scottie Lindsey paced the bench with 13 points.
Capital City (6-4) had three players on assignment from the Washington Wizards. The Go-Go were led by Vernon Carey, Jr. with 25 points, while Jordan Schakel scored 23, and Devon Dotson added 20 in the loss.
Dotson found Carey on the inside to open the scoring and Schakel finished a circus layup in transition to give the Go-Go an early lead. Valentine's contact layup took the lid off the basket for Maine after over three scoreless minutes to start the game. Capital City made a concerted effort to get into the teeth of the defense and finish in the paint early on, with all of their first five makes coming from within six feet of the rim as they built an 11-4 lead. A three from Davison and an eight-foot turnaround from Šamanić brought Maine within one, and Lindsey's old-fashioned three-point play capped off a 10-0 run that gave the Celtics a 14-13 advantage. It became a back-and-forth quarter from there, with Maine able to get the lead to two possessions a couple times but never truly separate. After one, the Celtics led, 25-22 with the help of 11 points from Šamanić.
Capital City quickly took the lead in the second as the Celtics again struggled to score early in the quarter. AJ Reeves and Shayok each finished on the break to put Maine ahead briefly before Dunn's rim-rocking jam woke up the Entertainment & Sports Arena crowd. The lead changed 11 times in the first half as the Go-Go continued to pound the ball inside, taking just 10 shots outside of the paint across the first 24 minutes. Still, the Celtics were able to outpace the Go-Go by hoisting 19 threes, spacing the floor out for drivers and cutters to create plenty of clean looks inside the arc. Šamanić added eight more to give himself 19 points and eight boards by halftime, at which point Maine led, 57-53.
Keeping with the trend from the first half, both teams were getting into the lane at will in the second half began. The minutes where Šamanić in the third sat weren't overly successful for the Celtics, but he was a force to reckon with whenever he checked in, racking up 23 points and 11 rebounds by the midpoint of the quarter as he continued his dominant stretch of play. A layup and a triple from Dunn gave the Go-Go the lead, and though Shayok regained it briefly for Maine, he was whistled for a technical foul moments later, triggering a 6-0 run from Capital City that put them in front, 78-72. The teams traded buckets for a few trips before the Celtics strung together a few buckets to make it a two-point game, 80-78, in favor of the Go-Go heading into the final frame.
Šamanić tied the game after a scoreless minute to open the fourth; the Celtics responded to each and every Go-Go run with a timely bucket, many from Šamanić. Valentine canned his first clutch triple of the quarter to give Maine the lead back, 88-85, starting a 19-8 run that gave Maine a double-digit lead in the final five minutes. Carey and Dotson each sank a three to keep Capital City within reach, but head coach Mike Williams wasn't able to harness the magic of last year's Go-Go teams that completed seven comeback wins from 10-point deficits. Schakel's three cut it to one, 110-109, but the steady Valentine came through in the clutch again for the Celtics, side-stepping into a three that put Maine ahead by two possessions, 113-109, with 43 seconds to play. Davison went 3-4 at the free throw line down the stretch before running out the clock in the final seconds as the Celtics stole a win from the Go-Go, 116-114.
The Maine Celtics will match up with the Greensboro Swarm on Dec. 2 before heading to College Park, Ga. for a two-game set with the Skyhawks on Dec. 4 and Dec. 6.
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