Twelve minutes in May: Re-living Lightning history

The Lightning-Express record-setting 3rd quarter and how it sealed a championship — as told by those on the court …

(Photo: Josh Mailloux Photography).

* * *

It had to be a mistake.

When handed the stat sheet from the just-closed third quarter, London Lightning head coach Doug Plumb saw a number that didn’t seem right. 49. It caused a double-take in the huddle as the team prepped for the fourth.

The team had played well so far in Game 5 of the NBLC Finals, but not great. Sluggish third quarters had been a trademark of the teams, so he had preached energy and focus in the locker room at halftime. He knew any let up against a talent-rich Windsor Express squad could spell trouble. During an early timeout in the third, he re-enforced that message.

Now readying his team for the season’s final 12 minutes, Plumb didn’t remember the previous quarter being anything special. There were plenty of lapses that caused him to storm the sidelines. His voice was still hoarse, so everything didn’t go perfectly, for sure.

Plumb glanced up and saw the scoreboard read 97-64. Up 48-37 at the half, the Lightning had bested its first-half total in a single quarter – setting an NBLC Finals record along the way.

49 points. Damn, Plumb thought. Guess it wasn’t a mistake after all.

*   *   *

After a first round upset of the Sudbury Five, the Windsor Express continued to stun the league with a 105-104 win in Game 1 of the NBL Canada Finals in London. The Lightning bounced back to take both Games 2 and 3 (124-107 and 112-107, respectively), before the Express pushed the series to a decisive game in the Forest City with a 110-102 win in Game 4.

In Game 5, London returned to its defensive roots, with a stellar first-half defensive effort that strangled what had been a potent Windsor offense all series.

Despite London leading the league with the fewest points allowed per game (95.5) in 2023, Windsor had lit up the Lightning with 100-plus games all series. But in the first half of Game 5, Windsor posted fewer than 20 points in each of the first two quarters (19 and 18 points, respectively), with its stars fading. Justin Moss led the squad with 12 points, but no other starter had more than 6.

The Lightning had scored 48 in the first half, with 25 in the opening quarter and 23 in the second. Bolts standouts Terry Thomas and Jeremiah Mordi led London scorers with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

The Express also found itself in foul trouble with a trio of players (Nick Garth, Justin Moss, and Tanner Stuckman) heading into the second half with three fouls each. The team wasn’t shooting particularly well, or defending well either, but they still found themselves with a shot.

London led 48-37 entering the third quarter …

*   *   *

Doug Plumb, London Lightning head coach

“At halftime, I looked at the guys and said I know you’re tired, everyone’s tired, but they’re more tired. They’ve got a 35-year-old who’s their best player and their starting point guard plays 48 minutes. But if you don’t shellack them in this third quarter, if you don’t come out right now with the most energy you’ve come out with the entire season, you risk losing it all.”

Bill Jones, Windsor Express head coach

“We came in excited. We had just won Game 4 in Windsor and knew less than 24 hours later we would be in London for Game 5 – a game nobody expected us to be in. We were ready to play.

“We were only down 11 at halftime. That wasn’t much. We had been in that position before and knew we could come back. But when the third started, it was like a movie – maybe a horror movie, maybe rated X – every shot they took went in.

“At the half, we tried to stay away from that exhausted talk. We knew when we lost Game 3 that we would have to go to Game 5 to win a championship. We knew we would have to win in London, which we had done already in the series. So, we tried to stay focused on the moment.”

Terry Thomas, London Lightning forward

“We didn’t want the referees or anybody else to dictate the game for us. We knew if we worked hard, never let up, that we could probably put it away. That was the mindset, the motivation going into the third quarter. We were up, but just felt like it wasn’t good enough.”

Jachai Taylor, Windsor Express forward

“At halftime, I just feel like everybody got to the point where they just ran out of gas. But I still had a lot of gas in me because I didn’t play at all the first half. At halftime, I had in my head that if coach puts me in, I had to bring us back somehow. My whole goal was to dig this team out of this hole. I wanted to make the deficit a little bit better. I kept thinking if coach puts me in, I am going to go balls to the wall. Win or lose, I gotta be the person to come off the bench and give the team a whole new start.”

Mike Nuga, London Lightning guard

“We wanted to come out in that third quarter with the intensity that we came out with in the first quarter. We wanted to make sure that we didn’t have any lapses. Everybody was just on the same page; we weren’t going to continue this streak of having bad third quarters. We came out with the same mentality and just kicked their ass.

“I knew before the tipoff even happened. Everybody was excited to play from the day before. We were excited to play and get our game back. So even before the game happened, I already knew everyone was going to be on time. I could feel the energy, especially from all my teammates, so that quarter didn’t surprise me at all.”

(Photo: Josh Mailloux Photography).

*   *   *

THIRD QUARTER OPENS | 48-37

Jermaine Haley | London. Layup. 50-37. 11:48.

Jermaine Haley | London. Free throw. 51-37. 11:48.

Jachai Taylor | Windsor. Layup. 51-39. 11:27.

*   *   *

Jachai Taylor, Windsor Express forward

“Everything I did out there felt good. Literally everything. Running. Shooting. Driving to the rim. Defensively. I felt on cue with everything. All my shots were hitting. I came out striking.

“As soon as I got in the game, I felt the wave of energy come over me. I felt like my team was looking at me to give them some type of energy that nobody else could give. If we were going to go out, we were going to go out swinging hard.”

Bill Jones, Windsor Express head coach

“It was rough. It was like we ran into a wall. We just couldn’t do anything. We tried to insert Jachai Taylor into the game for some energy and he did a good job for us. But they were tough.”

*   *   *

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Free throw. 52-39. 11:17.

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Three. 55-39. 10:47.

Jachai Taylor | Windsor. Layup. 55-41. 10:31.

Cameron Lard | London. Layup. 57-41. 10:15.

Justin Moss | Windsor. Layup. 57-43. 10:02.

Justin Moss | Windsor. Jumper. 57-45. 9:16.

TIMEOUT LONDON.

*   *   *

Doug Plumb, London Lightning head coach

“I told the guys you need to win this right now because if you don’t, you risk losing it on a couple calls in the fourth or who knows what happens. Guys get hot in the fourth and it could be a whole season for nothing.”

*   *   *

Terry Thomas | London. Layup. 59-45. 9:05.

Mike Nuga | London. Three. 62-45. 8:41.

Jachai Taylor | Windsor. Jumper. 62-47. 8:24.

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Layup. 64-47. 8:03.

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Free throw. 65-47. 8:03.

Jermaine Haley | London. Three. 68-47. 7:44.

TIMEOUT WINDSOR.

*   *   *

Bill Jones, Windsor Express head coach

“You can’t be happy when you see everything slipping away. They’re doing everything right. We’re not getting out of our own way. Our best players couldn’t quite get going. You just hope for something to ignite your team. But they did a good job. They took the game and the series coming out of the half.

“Even when you see it slowly slipping out of your grasp, even when you know that you lost your chance to do something special, you still have to coach, you still have to motivate.”

Terry Thomas, London Lightning forward

“The defense end of it was when I knew. Once we started, we started clicking. We’re all gelling, we’re all in chemistry on defense and it just kind of moved over on offense. Everybody was playing amazing. The first few minutes was what we aimed at because, honestly, for the whole season, our third quarters have not been the greatest.

“It was fun to be on that floor in that quarter, scoring or not scoring. It was fun because it was good basketball.”

Mike Nuga, London Lightning guard

“We were talking well on the court. We had an emphasis of making sure that we communicated well throughout the whole game. We’re coming off a back-to-back, so we knew we were going to be tired. But we knew if we talked, if we communicated well, that would help take away from some of our fatigue.

“For me, personally, it started on the defensive side. When you get a couple stops and then you make the first couple shots, after that I was in a rhythm. My teammates were doing a good job of getting me the ball. Every time I shot the ball, everything felt perfect. I was shooting with confidence. When you see a couple of them go in and catch heat, you get into that zone. My teammates were helping me a lot, keeping me confident along with my coach.”

*   *   *

Latin Davis | Windsor. Three. 68-50. 7:35.

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Three. 71-50. 7:10.

Mike Nuga | London. Three. 74-50. 7:04.

Mike Nuga | London. Layup. 76-50. 6:21.

*   *   *

Terry Thomas, London Lightning forward

“Honestly, when things are going that well, it doesn’t feel like you’re playing out there. The ball’s moving, you don’t have to work hard and it’s just how basketball should be played. From the fan point of view, and even statistically, that’s how the game should be played. As a player, you can enjoy the game and everybody can be positive and productive within themselves. It shows in the stats, and it shows on the court, that if you play basketball like that it speaks for itself.”

Jeremiah Mordi, London Lightning guard

“Honestly, it didn’t feel much different than any other third quarter. The whole season, we struggled with coming out of the break a little bit. We haven’t had great starts. Sometimes, we had leads we’d give up. But coach constantly reminds us about a third-quarter push, to lock in and pay attention.

“In the first half, even though I was playing aggressive, I didn’t make many shots. So, I wanted to be a little bit more aggressive in terms of hitting my shots. I came out and the shots were dropping. It seemed a little magical. It felt like playing 2K and the sliders are up, everything was just going in. Even hitting the rim, it was just dropping. It definitely felt great.”

*   *   *

Latin Davis | Windsor. Free throw. 76-51. 6:11.

Latin Davis | Windsor. Free throw. 76-52. 6:11.

Kur Jongkuch | London. Dunk. 78-52. 5:56.

Tanner Stuckman | Windsor. Jumper. 78-54. 5:50.

Mike Nuga | London. Three. 81-54. 5:36.

Jachai Taylor | Windsor. Three. 81-57. 5:10.

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Layup. 83-57. 4:42.

Cameron Lard | London. Layup. 85-57. 3:52.

Cameron Lard | London. Layup. 87-57. 3:36.

*   *   *

John Urban, London Lightning play-by-play voice

“London was holding this 9-to-16-point elastic band all throughout the majority of the opening half and then that band just kept stretching in the third. Other than Jachai Taylor, who for whatever reason didn’t play in the majority of the playoffs, the Express had literally nothing. He came off of their bench and was their only offense. I mean, if I’m being an idiot, you look at a guy like Billy White and Justin Moss and just say, ‘You blew it.’ But at the end of the day, they’re on the tail end of a back-to-back on the road and they’re 35 years old. How do you expect a 35-year-old man to play professional basketball for 48 minutes and then the next night to be on his game? It’s a high unlikelihood.”

Mike Nuga, London Lightning guard

“I feel like everyone’s game goes up 10% when not only you’re doing well, but everyone else is doing well. Everyone else is happy for your success, too. That’s where our team separated ourselves from other teams. It didn’t have to be ‘your game’; it could have been someone else’s game and everybody was still just as happy as long as we came out with the win. If it’s your night, everyone’s happy. If it’s someone else, our team is still happy. So, it makes it easier to enjoy success.”

*   *   *

Billy White | Windsor. Layup. 87-59. 3:15.

Jermaine Haley | London. Layup. 89-59. 2:37.

William Claiborne | Windsor. Layup. 89-61. 2:21.

William Claiborne | Windsor. Free throw. 89-62. 2:18.

Mike Nuga | London. Three. 92-62. 1:48.

Mike Nuga | London. Dunk. 94-62. 1:28.

*   *   *

Jeremiah Mordi, London Lightning guard

“I knew it was special when Nuga started going, when he caught that last exclamation dunk from outside the lane, I said, ‘Wow, this guy is going off.’ He had a lot of threes, as well. I honestly didn’t know that I had a high-scoring quarter until after the game when I checked the stats. I knew Nuga went crazy and that’s when I knew we were clicking on all cylinders. Everybody was contributing and I knew we could be champions soon.”

(Photo: Josh Mailloux Photography).

*   *   *

Jachai Taylor | Windsor. Free throw. 94-63. 1:16.

Jachai Taylor | Windsor. Free throw. 94-64. 1:16.

TECHNICAL FOUL ON TANNER STUCKMAN. :18.

Jeremiah Mordi | London. Free throw. 95-64. :18.

Jermaine Haley | London. Dunk. 97-64. :07.

THIRD QUARTER ENDS | 97-64

*   *   *

John Urban, London Lightning play-by-play voice

“Tanner Stuckman obviously got disqualified in the third quarter for bopping Haley with an intentional hard foul. But he was showing more gusto there than a lot of the other Express showed during that quarter.”

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For the Lightning, the third-quarter numbers don’t seem real: 12 minutes. 49 points. 19-30 (63%) shooting from the field. 7-10 (70%) shooting from beyond the arc. 13 rebounds. 10 assists. Mordi and Nuga led all scorers in the quarter with 16 each. Haley had 7 points in only 3 minutes of floor time.

The weird thing was how those numbers unfolded. London never had more than 8 unanswered points, but the quarter was more a portrait in slow, unrelenting dominance.

Windsor scored 27 points in the quarter, led by Taylor with 11 off the bench. The problem came in the team’s heavily decorated core: NBLC All-League First Teamer and Sixth Man of the Year Ja’Myrin Jackson had 0 points. NBLC All-League First Team selection Billy White had 2 points. NBLC All-League Second Teamer Latin Davis had 5 points.

The Express had 6 rebounds. Total.

*   *   *

Doug Plumb, London Lightning head coach

“I knew it was special when I looked up and it was a 30-point lead in one quarter. It was phenomenal. In the fourth, it was over. I told the guys, ‘Look, you basically need to play three minutes here because 30 points up, even if you absolutely shit the bed, and momentum is a crazy thing, and you start to get scared and play not to lose, who knows what the hell happens. But I literally got in the huddle after and my assistant brought me the sheet and I looked at it and I said, ‘This is an error.’ It was fucking crazy. But when you’re in the moment, you don’t even notice, to be honest, because you’re just so locked in possession by possession. But I’ve never seen anything like that – ever. That type of explosion out of nowhere.”

Bill Jones, Windsor Express head coach

“This was a good group that played their butts off. After that third, I looked at them in the huddle and told them not to quit. We were down big. But you stress that they need to compete to the end, play hard, don’t give up.”

(Photo: Josh Mailloux Photography).

* * *

Jeremiah Mordi, London Lightning guard

“I have been on the other side of that. There was an unreal quarter by Moncton (Magic) in my second year as a pro. We were up and they had a third quarter where it seemed like they couldn’t miss. I just remember there was nothing we could do. We played perfect defense and they were still hitting shots.

“Good offense always beats defense. When guys are in a rhythm and a groove, it’s hard to stop them, especially when they’re working together, especially on their own court.”

John Urban, London Lightning play-by-play voice

“It was getting boring to call in the fourth. Not so much the third quarter because it was happening. The damage was being done. But once the damage was done and that whole fourth quarter, ugh, you could literally have a shot clock violation every possession for the next 10 possessions. That would kill 2 minutes and 40 seconds off the clock. If Windsor hit a three ball on every one of those reciprocal possessions, that would be 30 points. London would still be up by 8 at that point. You look at the math part of it just going, ‘Wow, this has been a true ass-whooping here tonight’ without saying it.”

*   *   *

In the end, London brought home the 2023 NBL Canada championship in record-breaking fashion with a 126-88 win over Windsor. The victory capped a 3-2 series win for London, whose 38-point margin of victory was the largest-ever in a Finals game.

The win marked back-to-back championships for the Lightning and their sixth title in franchise history.

*   *   *

Jachai Taylor, Windsor Express forward

“All the players were in sync for London. Everything they were trying to execute, they got. That was our biggest problem, stopping what they were trying to get to.

“It was a competitive series. Everyone knows London and Windsor is a rivalry game. Been like that for years. The atmosphere is always good. It was a battle of two teams with great players on them. We knew it was going to be a dogfight, especially any time you play in Budweiser Gardens, it’s going to be a dogfight. It just so happened we fell a little bit short.”

John Urban, London Lightning play-by-play voice

“Windsor put up a gallant effort. They did what a lot of people thought they would never do. A lot of people didn’t think they were going to beat Sudbury, and nobody gave them a shot to push this series to five. But you get to that, you do all of that and you absolutely let London drop a literal record on you. That speaks for itself. The lack of effort overall … there was nothing left in their tank.

“London lost a lot of things going into the playoffs: Their potential MVP in Jordan Burns; their big man in Elijah Lufile; the release of Amir Williams who won a championship with them and would have been a big addition for the postseason. They rolled with what they had. If they had one of them, that series doesn’t go to five. London was beaten and battered and that third quarter was impressive, don’t get me wrong, but if you watch that quarter back, there is zero interior defense by Windsor.

“It was do-or-die time. It’s war time. You don’t have it tomorrow, you don’t have a next quarter, you don’t have a next game, now or never. So, the fact that Windsor played that game the way they played it, especially in that third quarter when it slipped away, was unfathomable.”

(Photo: Josh Mailloux Photography).

*   *   *

This championship may signal something more historic.

Earlier this year, NBL Canada officials announced that three teams – Lightning, Titans, and The Five – will be joining the Basketball Super League, effectively ending the NBL Canada as an independent entity. While an official decision will come this summer, this year most likely marks the 10th – and final – champion in league history.

London was a member of the league’s Original Seven in 2011, with Windsor joining in 2012. Since then, the two iconic franchises have won eight of the 10 NBL Canada championships, with London having the edge with six.

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Doug Plumb, London Lightning head coach

“It was wild. It felt like a culmination of the entire year. These guys could have done this at any point in the year. It’s just fitting that it came through when we needed it the absolute most. That game could have gone either way after halftime because we didn’t play overly well the first half.

“The guys, they put it all together and played hard for each other. They dominated the energy game – and then that’s what happens. It was phenomenal. The shots that we were hitting, it’s not like they were anything crazy, they were just open. They got their feet set and knocked it down.

“The whole year, I always told these guys it’s a war of attrition. We’re going to wear you down over the course of the season, or over the course of the game. You could see it as the game went on, Windsor just broke.”

Mike Nuga, London Lightning guard

“We handled business.”

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