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Half the players on the Maine Red Claws have had stints in the NBA at one point or another. The Springfield Armor, on the other hand, have two former NBA players in Ben Uzoh and Dennis Horner and Horner was out Thursday night. So, it shouldn't surprise that Maine has owned Springfield all season long, beating them seven out of eight, including Thursday. The Armor's only win this season vs.their New England rival came with Tornike Shengelia and Tyshawn Taylor on the court.
The Armor's continuing problem, shooting, once again did them in. The worst shooting team in the D-League, the Armor shot 38.4 percent overall and 27.3 percent from deep. The player the Nets thought would be their best shooter, 6'8" Notre Dame product Carleton Scott, hasn't doesn't well as they had hoped he would. For the season, the Brooklyn training camp invite, is shooting only 39.3 percent overall and 36.3 percent from deep. Uzoh isn't doing much better, at 40.5 and 25.7. So the Armor have had to rely on their bigs ... with mixed results.
Thursday, James Mays, the Armor's D-League All-Star, finished with a disappointing stat sheet of six points and five boards, but Willie Reed and Kenny Adeleke, a new roster addition, played well enough. Reed, who started slowly, finished with 14 points, six boards and three blocks. Adeleke, who's 6'8", had 15 rebounds to go with his 10 points. Between the two, they had 12 offensive boards.
"It was something I wanted to look at, especially with Dennis (Horner) being out," MacKinnon said of the combination. "I thought that might give us some good inside play, and it did." Just not enough.
- Game Report: Red Claws at Armor - D-League
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Springfield Armor unable to hold back Maine Red Claws in 108-94 loss - Jeff Thomas - Springfield Republican