PORTLAND — Dave Leitao, the first-year coach of the Maine Red Claws, drew the play up a couple weeks ago in practice and point guard Kenny Hayes thought to himself, “Man, that will never work.”
Well, Saturday night it did work. And the Red Claws went into the offseason on an incredible high.
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Hayes took an inbounds lob from Cedric Bozeman and scored with four-tenths of a second remaining to lift the Red Claws to an 84-82 victory over the Tulsa 66ers at the Portland Expo in the NBA Development League finale for both teams.
Hayes’ basket allowed the Red Claws to finish their third season on a three-game winning streak. And while the team didn’t make the playoffs again, he said the victory was important.
“This means a lot,” said Hayes, who finished with a team-high 17 points, all in the second half. “Especially to the fans who continue to come out here and support us even though we’re not going to make the playoffs. They came out and cheered us every second of the game.”
And they were extremely loud at the end.
The Red Claws, who finished 21-29, didn’t play particularly well early, scoring just 39 points in the first half to trail by seven. It could have been worse but, as Leitao noted, Maine got big lifts from its bench in the first half as Joe Trapani scored seven points (along with seven rebounds) and Justin Brownlee added 12.
Still, the Red Claws trailed by nine early in the third before Hayes and Morris Almond got untracked. They pushed the tempo, allowing the Red Claws to take a three-point lead into a fourth quarter that featured eight lead changes and six ties.
Six lead changes came in the final 2:41.
Tulsa led 82-80 with 22.1 seconds remaining, but Hayes drilled a 20-footer to tie it with 13.8 seconds left. Tulsa’s Jerome Dyson missed on a drive, with Hayes rebounding. Leitao called a timeout with .9 seconds left. Then he drew up the play that Hayes didn’t think would work.
“We had it in a few times,” said Leitao. “I got it from Boston, when Rajon Rondo scored off it to beat Miami in the playoffs a couple of years ago.”
Bozeman inbounded from the left sideline, waiting for Hayes to spin off his pick and break free. The pass was perfect – to the front of the rim – and all the wide-open Hayes had to do was leap up, catch it and drop it in the basket.
“Coach said, ‘Make a play,’ ” said Hayes. “And that’s what I tried to do.”
NOTES: Morris Almond and Kenny Hayes shared the People’s Choice Player of the Year, selected by fan balloting. They were 1-2 in Red Claws scoring.
Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:
mlowe@pressherald.com
Twitter: MikeLowePPH
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