Wake-up call for Lightning; What needs to change?

Around the Perimeter: London’s two straight losses exposed some team needs; Centre Amir Williams is back — and ready to roll. Lightning set for first taste of TBL American foes. Read the latest Lightning news & notes …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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STARTING FIVE

1. A tale of two weeks. Life comes at you fast. By all accounts – most notably from their head coach, Doug Plumb – the London Lightning played their best game of the season March 2. On the road in Sudbury, with just nine players, they dismantled the Five, winning an easy 105-89 contest. It was a statement game, showing that they’re the team to beat in the NBLC.

And yet, just 13 days later, this past Wednesday, the Lightning played their worst game of the season. If not by all accounts, certainly by their head coach, who did not mince words after losing to the same Sudbury squad on home court, 113-102.

“I was very disheartened tonight with the effort. There was no heart, no energy, no nothing. I felt disappointed in a lot of guys,” Plumb said postgame.

But there was more.

“That was the worst game I’ve been a part of as a coach with the London Lightning. I was embarrassed to be out there,” he said. “I can coach the sh** out of basketball, but I can’t coach your energy, effort, enthusiasm. It was very concerning today.”

Sudbury led by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter, and London couldn’t get much of anything going all night. They had nearly as many turnovers (20) as assists (23). Even more concerning, the loss came on the heels of another defeat – to the KW Titans the previous Sunday – which gave the Lightning as many losses as they’d suffered in the previous seven weeks.

They also lost Terry Thomas to injury in the game, and he sat out the following night against the Titans …

2. Saving face. Left reeling after a punch in the nose Wednesday, the Lightning did manage to regroup less than 24 hours later, and they got themselves back in the win column with a low-scoring 89-82 victory over KW at Bud Gardens. 

It wasn’t pretty, but for a team suddenly struggling, it didn’t matter. It took a fourth-quarter comeback to get the job done. The Titans led 64-61 after three quarters, and they extended that lead to seven points midway through the final frame. But the Lightning found life – and a hot Jordan Burns.

Trailing 75-69, Burns, who scored 15 of his 23 points in the final quarter, hit a big three with 6:01 left that began a reversal of fortunes for the Lightning. Following a Mike Nuga layup, Burns gave London the lead after converting a free throw for a three-point play. And then it was the Burns-Nuga show. The former hit another three-pointer. The Titans pulled back within one, but Nuga hit a big three with 1:23 left. A Burns jumper extended the lead to six, and then Nuga knocked down two clutch free throws to ice KW.

They’d blown a 16-point lead, they shot poorly again (42.3% overall), and had the same number of turnovers as assists (18), but London left the court with the much-needed win after a pair of losses. Not all wins are pretty.

After Burns’ 23 (he added 10 assists for a double-double), Nuga had 20 points (to go with nine rebounds), while Marcus Ottey (15) also scored in double figures, adding eight rebounds in the process. In fact, it was Ottey’s second straight strong showing, following a 23-point, 9-rebound game in a losing effort Wednesday.

Jordan Burns took over the game Thursday (March 16), scoring 15 of his team-high 23 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lightning to an 89-82 comeback win over the KW Titans. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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3. Help on the way. Last week, the Lightning announced they’d signed Amir Williams, who recently finished up a season playing in Malaysia for NS Matrix in the ASEAN League (ABL). It’s an addition that couldn’t come at a better time, with the team’s recent struggles. And Williams is no small add.

A Lightning returnee, last year Williams averaged 17 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 27 games overall, including playoffs, helping London win their fifth National Basketball League of Canada title. For his efforts, he was named to the NBLC’s All-League First Team.

Williams also arrives in good shape, having played his most recent game March 8. In that contest, which eliminated NS Matrix from postseason play, the 6-foot-11 centre tallied 26 points and 12 rebounds in 40 minutes. In 13 games with the team, he averaged an impressive 20.1 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks.

Williams, a Detroit, MI native, won’t be the last signing the Lightning make before their stretch run this season. Plumb has said he plans to add another player – or two – in the coming weeks. London has been playing shorthanded for awhile now, with Jeremiah Mordi away competing for the Nigerian national team (he’s due back some time next week).

With Terry Thomas out last game, the Lightning played with just nine bodies Thursday night. Eight, essentially, as Adham Aleeda saw just three minutes of action.

4. Putting the ‘C’ in NBLC. There was an interesting moment in London’s loss to Sudbury Wednesday night. On NBLC.TV, play-by-play man John Urban noted, at one point in the second quarter, that the Lightning had an all-Canadian lineup on the floor.

He was right. The five on the court were Justin Jackson, Terry Thomas, Mike Nuga, Elijah Lufile and Marcus Ottey. All Canadians. At the same time, the Sudbury Five had no Canadians on the court. In fact, they only had three Canadian players active that night – and two of them, Jasonn Hannibal and Justin Shaver, combined to play three minutes.

If you’re an NBLC fan scratching your head this season, you’re not alone. Historically, league rules have mandated teams roster a minimum number of Canadians (usually five). But it’s a rule that has seemingly gone out the window this year. The Windsor Express are well under the minimum, with Jason Calliste being their premier Canadian, while the KW Titans currently list three Canadians on their roster.

Why the non-enforcement of the rule? It seems, especially during these years coming out of COVID, that the league is taking a more lenient approach, more focused on teams simply assembling rosters, playing games, and keeping the league going as it looks to bring back fans after missing nearly two seasons due to the pandemic.

Does it put a team at a competitive advantage not rostering a minimum five Canadians? Potentially. Of course, there’s a much larger population to draw on from the United States – upwards of 10 times as large as Canada.

The London Lightning have bucked the trend, though, not only rostering those aforementioned Canadians, but also featuring the league’s only all-Canadian coaching staff (Doug Plumb and assistants Mike Provenzano and Dave Sewell).

“Me, Vito [Frijia, team owner], and Mark [Frijia, GM] said we’re gonna do this the right way, with the right number of Canadians – if not more,” said Plumb.

Is the coach happy other teams aren’t following the longstanding rule of rostering a minimum number of Canadians? He won’t point fingers or go on record complaining about the apparent infractions, but he is defiant in his attitude – especially when catching him after a loss.

“We’ll win the championship with Canadians anyway,” he said. “We’ll figure it out.”

Mike Nuga, a rookie who’s been a sparkplug off the bench for the Lightning, was key late in the game in London’s win over KW last Thursday. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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5. Losing the handle. If the Lightning (14-4, 10-4 in conference) are to finish tops in the NBLC standings (they entered Sunday’s contest against Sudbury a game ahead of the Five), they’ll have to clean up their play with the ball. Turnovers have been out of control lately, and it’s cost them points – on both ends of the floor.

Through 18 games, they’re now leading the NBLC with 15.0 turnovers a game, slightly ahead of the 14.9 posted by the 7-8 Windsor Express. Turnovers were, of course, a major contributor to their two straight losses last week, and their assist-to-turnover ratio has been abysmal in recent games. Overall, it’s at 19.7-to-15.0 – much less efficient than Sudbury’s 19.3-to-11.1.

Also, consider this: The Lightning boast the league’s assist leader, Jordan Burns, whose 8.9 helpers per game are far and away tops in the NBLC (the Five’s A.J. Mosby is a distant second with 4.4).

Burns turns the ball over at a high clip also (a league-leading 3.7 per game), but when you factor Burns out of the equation, London’s assist-to-turnover ratio through 18 games is 12.3-to-11.9.