The G League is on All-Star Break just like the NBA and Long Island went on vacation but not happily
It’s more good news, bad news for the Long Island Nets. Once again, Killian Hayes and Drew Timme played solid games — Hayes with his first 30-point game, but once again, they lost.
Long Island Nets traveled to Maine Thursday night to take on the Maine Celtics who had won their last six games and played well in the first half but fell apart defensively in the second and fell to the Celtics, 107-106. The G League Nets are now 7-11 and four games out of the post-season with 16 to play.
On the bright side, Killian Hayes continued his NBA “audition” with another fantastic game. After landing 10 of the team’s first 12 points, Hayes finished with 30 points, which was a career-high for him … in both the G-League and NBA, besting previous highs of 28 in each league. Hayes shot the ball well, connecting on 13 of his 23 attempts, including hitting three of his six from deep.
Hayes also had five assists and six rebounds. If that’s not impressive enough, Hayes also finished with three steals. Hayes’ only downfall came in the turnover department where he turned the ball over four times.
The one question on everyone’s mind is could this have been his final game with Long Island, as the Nets, amongst the rest of the G-League enter their All-Star break? With Hayes playing his best ball of late, it’s easy to see why NBA teams would like a player like him on their team and indeed, he told NetsDaily two days ago that there have been “talks” about a return.
Timme finished the game with yet another double-double. He managed to pick up 18 points, and 14 rebounds, which led the team. Timme also picked up two assists and one block. This comes after his impressive triple-double performance on Tuesday.
Kendall Brown had another decent shooting performance, connecting on six of his 12 attempts, but just made one of his four attempts from deep. Brown finished with 13 points, three rebounds, four assists, and one steal to his credit.
The downside for Long Island came in the three-point department, as they were only able to connect on eight of their 32 attempts from deep. Trevon Scott missed the most threes on the Nets, only able to find the hoop twice on his eight attempts. This was certainly a performance he wants back.
Tyson Etienne, one of Long Island’s top scorers as of late, had a game he’d like to forget, as well. Etienne connected on just two of his five attempts, including missing both of his attempts from deep. Etienne finished with just four points, one rebound, and four assists, as one of Long Island’s starters. According to Keith Smith, Etienne too has had NBA interest.
Mark Armstong, the 6’2” 20-year-old Long Island point guard, finished with 17, but shot only 7-of-17, including 2-of-7 from beyond the arc.
The Long Island Nets battled with Maine in the opening quarter. After picking up 10 of the team’s first 12 points, Hayes went rather silent while the rest of the team stepped up. Long Island entered the second trailing by just one. Long Island had a fantastic showing in the second, entering the half up by 11, while outscoring Maine, 34-22.
Maine battled back in the third, this time outscoring Long Island, 39-23, entering the fourth up by five. Despite getting it close on a couple of occasions, Long Island was not able to put the dagger in Maine, as they would go on to fall to the Celtics by one point.
Next Up
The Long Island Nets (7-11) now enter their All-Star break, as they get to reset and regroup till next Friday night. It remains to be seen how the team will look when we get back from the break. Long Island will take on their former big Patrick Gardner and the Osceola Magic.
The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on the YES App, as well as the NBA G-League and Long Island Nets’ respective websites.