To be successful in the G League – and show you deserve to be promoted to the NBA – players must be successful in finishing drives to the basket and hitting 3-pointers.
The Maine Red Claws, in their second game of the season, showed Sunday they have what it takes in a 132-124 victory over the Delaware Blue Coats at the Portland Expo.
Walter Lemon Jr. (29) and P.J. Dozier (26) combined for 55 points, many on twisting and turning drives.
Jeff Roberson with 19 points and Marques Georges-Hunt with 13 also found their way to the basket for Maine, which fell 95-92 to Westchester in its opener Friday night.
“(Maine) has a lot of drivers, physical guards who are drive-oriented,” Delaware Coach Connor Johnson said. “They have a lot of talent and they put a ton of pressure on us.
“All of those guards and wings, those guys get downhill fast. They have a lot of depth and it was hard to figure out who we should guard, where we should put our guys and what strategies we should be using.”
Lemon, who had one point in the first quarter, scored 16 in the fourth. He had 12 of the team’s 14 in a 61/2 -minute span as the Red Claws added to a six-point lead for a 126-118 advantage with 39 seconds left.
Lemon, one of the Boston Celtics’ two-way players, started the run with a free throw after being fouled on a drive and added two layups – one a double-pump shot to avoid a would-be blocked shot. He had a long 3-pointer and two layups in a 1:22 span in the middle of the run, with the final layup converted as a defender held one of his arms.
“The way the NBA and the game has changed, it’s now either a you shoot the 3 or you get to the basket type of league,” said Lemon, who went undrafted in 2014 out of Bradley. “I think management and the coaches did a great job putting a great group of guys together who can do both. We have a lot of versatile guys.
“And today was an example that we are not a team that will rely on one or two players. We have a good enough team that we can stay in the game if one player isn’t playing well.”
Lemon shot 0 of 4 in the first quarter as Maine trailed, 40-32.
“Walt didn’t play that well in the first half and he really owned up to that,” Coach Brandon Bailey said. “And because of that he played well in the second half.
“We want the ball in his hands. Obviously him being our point guard, our two-way (player), he’s a guy we rely on a lot.”
Dozier got the team going late in the second quarter, when Maine used a 27-10 run to take a 66-63 halftime lead, erasing a 53-39 deficit.
Following Sheldon Jeter’s long jump shot, Dozier scored on a drive and 3-pointer in a 31-second span to bring the deficit to 53-46. He then assisted 3-pointers by Roberson and Vito Brown for a 61-59 lead.
“We needed some kind of spark, whether it was on the offensive or defensive end,” Bailey said. “P.J. is a consistent, G League player with great G League experience.”
Brown also had a first for the 10-year organization, becoming the first player to sing the national anthem.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know he could sing like that,” said Lemon. “I thought it was a joke (when he was announced).”
His coach also sang his praise.
“It was good, too, that he played well after that,” Bailey said.
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