Maine Celtics set to host Long Island Nets in Eastern Conference G-League Finals

Having already clinched the best record in the league, the rest of the Boston Celtics’ games this season are meaningless from a standings perspective. But the same cannot be said for the Maine Celtics, who are one win away from a trip to the G-League Finals.

On Sunday night at 7 pm ET, the #2 seed Maine Celtics will host the #5 seed Long Island Nets in a single-elimination Eastern Conference Finals game. They can thank the #1 seed Osceola Magic — who fell to the Nets on Friday night — for that opportunity.

The Maine Celtics will play in front of their raucous Portland Expo crowd one more time, just three days after a 119-112 comeback win over the Delaware Blue Coats. In that game, they were powered by two-way point guard JD Davison, who finished with 21 points and 11 assists despite suffering a severe ankle sprain just a week earlier. DJ Stewart, also recovering from a sprained ankle, was huge in the comeback, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the second half as the Celtics used a 17-0 third quarter run to take the lead.

Neemias Queta — who has spent much of the year with the parent club — was instrumental in the match-up, putting up 18 points and 16 rebounds.

“Everybody’s happy to have him,” Davison said of Queta. “He gets a lot of blocks, a lot of alley-oop dunks. He just does a lot of stuff that’s not on the stat sheet. We’re just happy to have him.”

Joe Mazzulla said on Friday night that the success of the Maine Celtics matters to the organization as a whole.

“It’s important for the players, it’s important for the staff, it’s important for the organization,” Mazzulla said. “It validates just the development, and the alignment — I always talk about alignment between the front office and ownership and us and Maine, and the G-League is in that alignment as well. We want people to know what they do matters, and that there’s a process towards that.”

Jordan Walsh, who’s been on assignment with Maine for most of the season, also played an important role in the victory. He logged 18 points and 9 boards against the Blue Coats on Thursday, and then headed to Boston to play six minutes with the Celtics in Friday’s win over the Sacramento Kings.

Two-way player Drew Peterson — who had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the conference semifinals — also joined Walsh for the trip.

“The communication between Maine, our player development team, our staff, the front office, and the players is great,” Mazzulla said. “I’m really happy for [Maine Celtics head coach] Blaine [Mueller] and I’m happy for the staff.”

The support for their G-League affiliate has been clear all year. Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet, both alumni of the Maine Celtics, made trips to Portland earlier this season. Last month in Atlanta, a slew of Celtics players — including Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Sam Hauser, Xavier Tillman, Oshae Brissett, and Svi Mykhailiuk — sat courtside as the Maine Celtics, with special guest Jaden Springer, defeated the College Park Skyhawks.

The Maine Celtics began their season as a .500 team and an 11-11 record just a few months ago. Now, they’re winners of 11 of their last 13 games and are one of four teams left standing.

“With this team, with this group, everybody loves to be around each other,” Davison said after the win. “We got more time with each other now.”

The Long Island Nets, who they’ll face next, are in a similar position, having won 10 of their last 14 games.

“Long Island is very much like us — middle of the pack, and went on quite a run there at the end of the season,” Mueller said. “They were right there with us with a winning streak.”

Containing the Nets’ three two-way players will be key for the Celtics. Point guard Jacob Gilyard, shooting guard Keon Johnson, and wing Jaylen Martin combined for 75 points in Long Island’s upset.

The winner of tomorrow’s Eastern Conference Finals game will head to the G-League Finals, a best-of-three series that begins on April 9th. The winning East team will face the winner of tomorrow’s Oklahoma City Blue — Stockton Kings game, who are duking it out in the Western Conference Finals.

Regardless of what happens next, Maine coach Blaine Mueller knows a special season will shortly come to an end. Most G-League teams part ways at the end of the season as some players go overseas and others reshuffle within the league.

“For us, it’s just taking advantage of the opportunity in front of us,” Mueller said. “The opportunity to be together, to spend time together, play with one another — and love each other.”