PORTLAND – Meet the new Maine Red Claws, same as the old Red Claws … literally.
Morris Almond returned again to Portland, but the Red Claws continued their losing ways Friday night, falling to the Erie BayHawks 122-113 at the Portland Expo.
Almond scored 25 points in his second game — and first start — since joining the team earlier this week. Backup guard Kenny Hayes scored 24 points but the defense for Maine (7-16) couldn’t slow down an Erie offense bolstered by a pair of players on assignment from the New York Knicks.
“I felt like we chased them the whole game,” Maine Coach Dave Leitao said. “We just did not get anything together. We did not put five minutes of good play together the whole game.”
Still, the Red Claws certainly had their opportunities. Erie (10-12) built its lead as high as 14 in the first half but that was trimmed to a single point twice in the third quarter, both times thanks to Hayes.
But the Erie offense was simply too much. The BayHawks had Jeremy Lin and Jerome Jordan to thank for that. Both were assigned to the BayHawks by the Knicks earlier this week. Lin earned a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists.
Jerome Jordan, a 7-footer, scored 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Appropriately, it was Lin who all but slammed the door on any thoughts the Red Claws had of a rally.
Lin got a ball off a turnover and converted a layup with 2:19 left in the game for a 116-107 Erie lead. It was as close as the Red Claws would get for the remainder of the game.
“Both (Lin and Jordan) have embraced their assignment down here,” Erie Coach Jay Larranaga said. “Fortunately, we do the same things down here that Coach (Mike) D’Antoni and the Knicks do, so it was very easy for them to adjust.”
Almond looked pretty comfortable as well. He sported a pair of bright red Nike shoes — leftovers from a stint with an Italian team, he said — and flashed signs of the play that Maine fans might remember.
He hit 9 of 15 shots, including 2 of 3 from three-point range, en route to his team-bests of 25 points and 12 rebounds. His nearly 42 minutes of game time was a team high as well.
“I’m no stranger to the D-League,” Almond said. “It’s a free-flowing game. I just wanted to keep my energy up and make plays.”
It is Almond’s third stint with the Red Claws. He played in a road game Thursday before returning to Portland on Friday. He signed with a Ukrainian team in a Russian league in the fall before quitting and returning home for a few months to ponder his options.
The best option turned out to be the familiar one.
“We have a young team, I didn’t realize how young we are,” Almond said. “We had our hands full with (Erie) tonight. We’ve gotta make some adjustments. The good thing about the D-League is we get ’em again on Sunday.”
NOTE: Sunday’s game time with Erie is rescheduled for noon from 5 p.m., due to the AFC championship game that day.
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