The Maine Red Claws returned to the Portland Expo on Friday night for the first time since bowing out of the NBA Development League playoffs in April and left the impression they’ll be back again.
James Young, one of three players on assignment from the parent Boston Celtics, poured in 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Claws beat Raptors 905 112-93 before a crowd of 2,457.
It was the second victory in as many nights for the Red Claws (3-1) over Toronto’s nascent D-League affiliate. The 905 dropped to 0-4, having lost 109-104 in suburban Toronto on Thursday night to the Red Claws.
The two teams meet for a third straight game Sunday afternoon at the Expo.
“If you play a team once they learn all your tendencies,” said Red Claws veteran forward Omari Johnson, who finished with 17 points. “So to play them back to back is tough. And then to play them a third time, it’s like a playoff series. They have time to sit down and talk about what everybody does.”
A 20-foot jump shot by Davion Berry at the end of the first quarter broke a tie and put Maine ahead 17-15. The Claws never trailed again, stretching their lead to as many as 21 points in the third quarter. The Raptors came no closer than six the rest of the way and trailed by double digits for the final nine minutes.
“I thought our guys responded pretty well to the back-to-back (games) and the travel,” said Red Claws Coach Scott Morrison. “I think it really came down to who played harder and who handed that adversity better.”
Both teams boarded early-morning flights from Toronto to Boston and rode buses north to Portland. The Raptors left behind 7-foot-5, 362-pound center Sim Bhullar, who only plays home games while he tries to slim down. They did bring another seven-footer, Lucas Nogueira of Brazil, but he played only 13 minutes and blocked four shots, all in the first half, and sat out the rest because of hamstring troubles. .
“He’s so long that he affects things around the rim quite a bit,” Morrison said. “I thought when he was out the second half and we were struggling a little bit, we were able to go inside and get a couple (easy) buckets.”
Maine pulled away by doing what it does best: Driving the lane and kicking out to a variety of 3-point sharpshooters. Young was 6 of 10 from long range. Johnson drained three. Corey Walden and Coty Clarke each made two.
“When we’re moving the ball and we’re playing fast-paced, we’re tough to stop,” said point guard Terry Rozier, another Celtic assignee.
Rozier finished with 16 points and eight assists. Walden had seven assists. Three out of every four Maine field goals (31 of 44) resulted directly from a pass.
“It was our best offensive game,” Morrison said. “We had the highest (ratio) of assists and probably the highest paint touches. … That was the main thing we spoke about after the (Thursday) night game. We’ve got to be more unselfish when we get in the paint and recognize when their defense pulls in, and start hitting our shooters.”
The third Celtics player on assignment, power forward Jordan Mickey, scored 17 points, blocked five shots and grabbed nine rebounds. The Claws had five players score in double figures: Young, Johnson, Mickey, Rozier and Clarke (12).
“It’s a pick your poison kind of thing,” said Raptors Coach Jesse Mermuys. “It seemed like every time we picked a poison, we’d get infected by somebody else.”
Jay Harris led the Raptors with 20 points and Scott Suggs added 18.
“Give them credit,” Morrison said. “They hung in with a small lineup and kept it a game the whole way through even though we shot the ball pretty well.”
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