Maine Celtics advance to G-League Finals after defeating Long Island Nets: “It means everything”

For three quarters, the Maine Celtics couldn’t hit a shot. Then, in the fourth quarter, they couldn’t miss. And after defeating the Long Island Nets 99-77, the Celtics’ G-League affiliate will be going to the Finals for the first time in franchise history.

“It’s a dream come true,” head coach Blaine Mueller said.

Point guard JD Davison controlled the tempo of the game all night, finishing with 19 points, 11 assists, and 3 steals. Neemias Queta was relentless on the glass and added 16 points on 8-9 shooting, plus a career-high 19 rebounds.

But, the story of the game was the turnaround performances of DJ Steward and Jordan Walsh, who helped turn a one-point game early in the fourth to an absolute blowout.

“The whole game, we couldn’t throw a rock in the ocean,” Walsh said. “We knew — at some point — the tides were going to shift.”

And that they did. Through three quarters, Steward and Walsh combined for 13 points on 5-20 shooting. In the final period, Steward cashed in 19 points (7-9 FG) and Walsh had 10 points on 3-3 shooting, including two thunderous dunks.

The Portland Expo was going nuts.

“It felt like it was the loudest this building’s ever been,” Walsh said.

The duo was all smiles at the postgame podium.

“It feels amazing,” Steward said. “This team is very special. We love each other, we’re always hanging out with each other. To win the Eastern Conference Finals is very big, but the job’s not finished.”

In the fourth quarter, Maine hit 14 of 18 field goal attempts and outscored the Nets 38-17.

“That was probably our best fourth quarter this season,” Steward said. “I just felt like we locked in, collectively, as a group. Defending, getting rebounds, and we forced them to take a lot of tough shots.”

And, as the cherry on top, when the Celtics extended their lead to double-digits in the fourth, Walsh hit the Nets with Al Horford’s patented timeout signal.

Laughing, he explained his thought process postgame: “We just went on a run. I think DJ hit two back-to-back threes, and I was like, ‘they’re cooked. They’re cooked. They need a timeout.’”

Defense kept the Celtics in it, offense sealed the deal

Mueller credited the team’s disciplined defense for keeping them in it most of the night despite the offensive struggles that plagued them.

What changed in the fourth? The short answer is DJ Steward.

“We started making shots, and DJ Steward is good at basketball,” Mueller said with a chuckle. “So that helps a lot.”

Like their parent club, Maine aims to hold opponents to 25-point quarters. Mueller said that analytics show that if a team holds an opponent to two 25-point quarters, they have about an 80% chance of winning, and if they hold opponents to three 25-point quarters, they have about a 98% chance of winning.

In the conference finals, when it mattered most, Maine held Long Island to four below 25-point quarters, a feat they had never accomplished this season.

“A huge credit to our coaching staff and to our guys executing the game plan,” Mueller said. “Every time they drove, we’re playing a personnel tendency in terms of which hand they want to drive to, which hand they want to finish with.”

Blaine Mueller said two-way player Jacob Gilyard, who spent much of the year with the Memphis Grizzlies, as “an absolute nightmare” to contain. But, the Celtics were able to hold him to just 13 points. In fact, no Nets player scored more than 16.

DJ Steward: the best sixth man in the G-League

DJ Steward powered the game-changing run for the second elimination game in a row. He drove for a layup to begin the fourth, then hit consecutive three-pointers — a quick 8-point outburst that gave the Celtics a 69-62 lead and some breathing room for the first time all half.

“I felt like it got us going,” Steward said. “But it’s my teammates. They always come up to me and they tell me to keep going, keep pushing and being aggressive. When I have them telling me that, it gives me the ultimate confidence to just go out there and ball.”

He finished the night with 27 points on 10-20 shooting. JD Davison, who continued to find the hot hand in the forth, was thrilled with his teammate’s performance.

“It was great to see those guys get it going, especially DJ, one of my backcourt bros,” Davison said with a smile. “To see him get it going, and some shots go in – man, the crowd was energetic. We needed that.”

Steward went undrafted after spending a year at Duke in 2021 and was a regular starter for Maine earlier in the season, but got moved to the bench after the team signed guards Drew Peterson and Joe Wieskamp mid-year.

For some, that relegation could have led to a bad attitude. Mueller said that in the G-League, it’s hard for guys not to put themselves first considering the fact that getting called up to the NBA is everyone’s ultimate goal. But, he noted that this group is different, and that Steward’s willingness to come off the bench with a smile on his face has been a big part of establishing a team-first culture.

“We’ve got phenomenal guys across the board,” Mueller said. “I’m a very lucky man, a very lucky coach. He’s a huge piece of our spirit, our togetherness, the locker room camaraderie, with everything that he does and everything that he is as a person.”

Walsh echoed that sentiment.

“He’s been huge all year,” Walsh said. “He started off the year starting and playing huge minutes for us. He then went to the bench, and he didn’t take it as a punishment or he got deducted or anything like that. He took it as a chance, when it’s his turn to go in, to go in and cook, and shine, and that’s what he’s been doing all year.”

There’s no Sixth Man of the Year award in the G-League, but Mueller said Steward would be the obvious choice to earn those honors if there was one.

“DJ Steward is a baller,” Mueller said. “He bails us out, bails me out all the time. He just has a knack — he’s a talented scorer, can create, his playmaking has come such a long way.”

Part of what made the win so special is the off-court relationship of Steward and Queta. The two played together for the Stockton Kings last season, becoming close friends and earning the top seed in the conference before dropping their first postseason game. The opportunity to link up again and make a push for a championship gives them a chance at redemption.

“He’s one of my best friends in the league,” Queta said of Steward. “I’m just happy to be around him. You see him develop at such a fast pace.”

Looking ahead to the G-League Finals

With the win, the Celtics got the chance to hoist an Eastern Conference Finals trophy in front of their home crowd. Next, they will face the Oklahoma City Blue in a best-of-three Finals series.

They’ll host the Blue for Game 1 at the Portland Expo on Tuesday at 8pm, before traveling to OKC for Game 2 on Thursday. If the two teams split those games, Maine will be back home for the deciding Game 3 on Monday, April 15th.

OKC will be tough to beat. Led by 2022 lottery pick Ousmane Dieng, 2023 draft pick Keyontae Johnson and two-way player Adam Flagler, they defeated the #1 seed Stockton Kings 114-107 on Sunday night.

Maine players took the night to celebrate, but acknowledged the ultimate goal is winning it all.

“We’ve got two more left, but obviously, at the moment it’s a great feeling, to know that this is the first time this has been done,” Walsh said. “It’s an amazing feeling. In our first year as a team together, which is amazing, and in Blaine’s first year as head coach.”

Davison is in a unique position in that he’s spent two full season with Maine. As the franchise’s all-time assist leader, he’s been the engine that makes it all go, and has led the team in scoring this year with 21.5 points per game.

For Davison, getting the Maine Celtics to the Finals is particularly special.

“It means everything, especially with this group, and how we became so close off the court,” Davison said. “On the court, we’re just playing so well together. I can’t even explain the feeling right now.”