Around the Perimeter: The key to streak? Defense.

It’s Sudbury and Syracuse this week for the Lightning, who seek to extend their perfect 7-0 start. Shots still aren’t falling, but clamp-down defense, columnist Jason Winders says, has made the difference.

Cameron Forte, London’s leading scorer (and reigning NBLC Player of the Week), had a monster 44-point, 18-rebound game against Windsor last Sunday. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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STARTING FIVE

1. The ABCs of D. This London Lightning defense is tight – active, relentless, fast. Fun to watch. It has also kept them in games; nothing helps a slow-starting offense quite like a clamp-down defense.

Thus far, the Lighting are giving up a league low 95.6 points per game – nearly five points better than the next best team (KW Titans at 100.3). The Bolts are also tops in defensive efficiency at 0.965. (Defensive efficiency is the number of points a team allows per 100 possessions.)

Individually, the Lighting boast maybe the league’s best all-around defender in Terry Thomas, as well as two of the league’s top five defensive rebounders (Cameron Forte, 57, and Thomas, 38); three of the top four thieves (Chris Jones, 15, Thomas, 14, and Forte, 11 steals); and two of the top four shot blockers (Amir Williams, 11, and Thomas, 9).

When this team starts hitting 3s, watch out. Speaking of which …

2. Starting five shake up. When the Lightning signed and activated Josiah Mastandrea on March 12, the team released forward Marlon Taylor. That is a rather precipitous drop for Taylor, who went from starting the season opener against the KW Titans on Feb. 21 to getting his release three weeks later. But in five games, Taylor never really stood out, struggling from the floor by scoring only 17 points on 44.4% shooting from the field and 16.7% from 3.

3. Raiders of the lost arc. The Mastandrea-Taylor move is, in part, in service of finding some outside scorers. Head coach Doug Plumb has been frustrated by the team’s shooting early on, especially from 3. While London leads the league in total field goals (304) and field goal percentage (50.1) – because it bangs and rebounds underneath like The Monstars – the team has only made 59 three-pointers while shooting a league-low 29.6% from beyond the arc. Plumb called Mastandrea “a bonafide threat shooting the ball.” In two games of limited action, he has shot 2-9 from the field and 1-6 from 3 in 20 minutes of floor time.

4. Making his lists. We are watching an all-time great having an amazing season. On March 12, Lightning guard Terry Thomas entered the NBL Canada’s all-time Top 10 points list with a three pointer against the Sudbury Five at The Bud. The veteran enters this week with 2,397 career points. He is one of three active players on the list, which also includes Billy White of the Windsor Express (No. 9) and Kirk Williams, Jr. of the Five (No. 3). Thomas also resides within the all-time Top 10 for field goals (874 | No. 10) and steals (No. 8 | 225). He is 132 rebounds out of the Top 10 with 863; 34 blocked shots out of the Top 10 with 85; and 44 free throws out of the Top 10 with 473.

Terry Thomas entered the NBL Canada’s Top 10 career points list last weekend. His 2,397 points are now No. 10 all-time. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

5. Game of the Week. The NBL Canada’s efforts to elevate the league’s profile have resulted in a new broadcast partnership that will bring its best weekly contests to a national audience.

Starting this week, Coast To Coast Sports Network (C2CSN) will begin broadcasting an NBL Canada Game of the Week across Canada for the remainder of the season. The tape-delayed production will feature the week’s top game, as well as other league content. Based in Manitoba, C2CSN will expand the Game of the Week broadcast into the United States for the 2023-24 season.

“As NBL Canada celebrates its 10th anniversary season, the timing of this television broadcast partnership agreement couldn’t be better because the theme of this season will be about celebration,” said Audley Stephenson, NBL Canada Vice-president of Basketball Operations. “This partnership will serve as a fantastic vehicle for increased exposure while further expanding the league’s brand across Canada as well as the United States which is a nice tie-in with our partnership with The Basketball League (TBL).”

Fans will be able to view the Game of the Week on select programs on approved cable/satellite networks such as Rewind, OMNI, NAC TV, and BELL ExpressVu Satellite.

“Coast To Coast Sports Network is excited to be part of this venture,” said Vin Robinson, C2CSN founder. “C2CSN appreciates the connections to the community that the NBL Canada has established over the past nine years of play and this partnership has been set in place to embellish the success of the league as well as the growth of the game of basketball.”

For a full broadcast schedule, visit CoastToCoastSports.Net.

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LIGHTNING NOTES

Seven games into the season, Cameron Forte is leading the team in scoring with 22.7 points per game (PPG), followed by Terry Thomas (17.4 PPG), and Chris Jones (14.4 PPG). Forte’s mark is good for fourth in the league. … Maybe it’s no surprise, then, that Forte was named NBL Canada Player of the Week for the week ending March 13. The 6-foot-7-inch forward averaged 23.7 points per game in three victories last week. He also nabbed 11.7 rebounds per game. … With Lightning head coach Doug Plumb out of town, lead assistant coach Michael Provenzano moved to 1-0 with his first career head coaching win against the Windsor Express at The Bud Sunday. … The Syracuse Stallions make their first visit to the Forest City this weekend. TBL teams are 3-8 against NBL Canada opponents so far this season.

BEYOND MY BYLINE

It’s Showtime! Check out this article from The Ringer on how the team behind HBO’s ‘Winning Time’ brought prestige TV and basketball together to retell the glitzy, highly dramatic tale of the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. This show is like candy for 1980s NBA fans. Amazing stuff.

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