PORTLAND — A bitter one-point defeat (111-110) at home on Monday stalled The Maine Red Claws (30-22) quest to advance to the NBA D-League Conference Finals for the first time. Maine will try again tonight when they host game 3 against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (31-21) at 7 p.m. at the Portland EXPO. The Red Claws are 15-11 at home while, the Indiana Pacers affiliate Mad Ants are an identical 15-11 on the road.
Maine will attempt to clinch their first-ever playoff series victory in their eight-year history and avenge disappointing first round playoff loss sweeps in each of the past 2 years.
The Red Claws’ two rookie NBA D-League All-Stars Abdel Nader and Jalen Jones, both played well in the loss scoring 19 and 18 points, respectively.
Two other players (on assignment from the Boston Celtics) had mixed success on Monday.
Rookie Demetrius Jackson, who led the team in game 1 with 30 points, had 10 assists and 15 points on Monday, but misfired on some late game opportunities
Second year Celtic Jordan Mickey led Maine with 27 points (11-16 FG) and 13 rebounds and is shooting 23-for-35 in the series. Mickey appears to be relishing his chance to challenge former NBA veteran Tyler Hansbrough with his low post game.
Hansbrough was also strong offensively on Monday. He led Fort Wayne with 27 points and 15 rebounds (nine offensive), after recording 29 points and 20 rebounds (10 offensive) in the opener. The national college player of the year in 2008, Hansbrough has played seven NBA seasons, but was not picked up this year.
The large and enthusiastic home crowd was excited to see Celtics 2016 first round draft pick (No.16 overall) Guerschon Yabusele make his home debut after three games on the road. He scored 18 points off the bench (7-14 FG) coupled with nine rebounds and six assists. The 6-foot-eight native of France (known as the “The Dancing Bear”) was addressed with two other nicknames during Monday’s game: “G” by an assistant coach and “Yabu” by a teammate.
The winner of tonight’s game will host higher seeded Toronto in game one of the conference championship and be on the road for the second and, if needed, third game.
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