Lightning top TBL, take first Windsor rematch

Seven straight wins have London Lightning looking good; Team-wide double digit feat a franchise first; Recalculating Plumb’s win count; How do London’s stats stack up? It’s Tri-State & Montreal this weekend …

Freddie McSwain Jr. and the Lightning took two against Rhode Island — and then a showdown win against Windsor — to improve to 7-2 through action Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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STARTING FIVE

1. We were told there would be no math. Lightning head coach Doug Plumb might need to hold off on that all-time record just a bit. Fans and media, including these reporters, have been counting down the wins until Plumb passes former Lightning head coach Michael Ray Richardson’s all-time wins total. But that record isn’t a record – just yet.

Richardson had 84 regular season wins in three seasons behind the Lightning bench in the NBL Canada:

28-8 in 2011-12
33-7 in 2012-13
23-17 in 2013-14

Plumb was said to have entered the season with 77 regular season wins and was to pass Richardson’s franchise record with his eighth win of the season. But that isn’t quite right. That total number included wins during his time in St. John’s.

Plumb actually has 64 wins as Lightning head coach:

15-8 in 2019-20
19-4 in 2021-22 
23-6 in 2022-23 
7-2 in 2023-24

Turns out, Plumb needs 21 more wins to pass Richardson for the all-time franchise wins mark.

The error came in counting Plumb’s total career regular season wins in the NBL Canada, a number that included a year with the St John’s Edge. The count also overlooked two games where Plumb was not behind the bench for the Lightning:

• March 13, 2022. Lightning assistant coach Mike Provenzano earned his first coaching win as Plumb was away for his brother’s wedding.

• April 22, 2023. Plumb served a one-game suspension for accumulation of technical fouls. 

Will Plumb break Richardson’s franchise mark? Most likely. But he still has a ways to go to reach it.

2. Double X 11. His teammates were yelling at him from the bench. With about a minute to play in the Lightning’s 143-125 win over the Rhode Island Kraken last Friday (Jan. 19), Jeremiah Mordi was the only London player left without double digits in scoring. Mordi sat at eight points. A missed jumper with 1:15 to go sent the bench reeling, but when Mordi drew a foul and sank a pair of free throws 12 seconds later, he helped the team achieve something you won’t see often in professional hoops. 

For the first time in franchise history, all 11 players on the active roster scored in double-digits. The wildly democratic scoresheet was led by Shaddell Millinghaus with 18 points, followed by Rashad Smith (15), and Billy White (14). It was coach Doug Plumb himself who thought of attempting the feat.

“I saw the stats after the third quarter, and I made it a point of emphasis going into the fourth,” the coach said. “I told the guys, ‘it’s never been done before.’ I had the stats on my clipboard, and every timeout I told them how many points guys needed.”

It wasn’t an effort to show up an opponent, but rather an interesting exercise in team-building. Each player rooted for their teammates, and when the team posted the accomplishment on social media, Plumb says, the players took pride in the feat. 

While there wasn’t much to learn in a pair of lopsided wins, from an x’s and o’s standpoint, “the thing I learned about our group,” Plumb said, “is that our guys like each other.”

Meanwhile, playing with just eight players, Rhode Island managed to get seven of its players in double digits Friday night, too, led by Zecaree Veiga with 35 points. Only Kraken guard Jarron Santos failed to reach double digits, ending the game with 8 points.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

3. The TBL-BSL adjustment. Last weekend featured London’s first look at a TBL opponent this season. It’s no dig on the TBL, but it’s expected that BSL teams will win the overwhelming majority of the games between the two leagues (the former doesn’t start its own regular season until March, after all). So, it could pose a challenge to come out of a game against a lesser opponent and then turn around quickly and prepare for and play a stronger BSL foe.

“You have to respect your opponent, for sure, but let’s be honest … we have 11 guys that are legitimate  pros and [Rhode Island] had guys who are rookies,” said Plumb. “I tell our guys the truth. ‘This is where I think this team is at, and these are our goals for the game.’ It’s more about us.”

But it’s basketball, and no matter the level, it’s hard for a team not to ‘play down’ to an opponent’s level. 

“Damn near impossible,” Plumb said. “It’s hard to maintain good habits.”

That was evident Friday when the Lightning were outrebounded by the visiting Kraken and allowed the opposition to score 125 points (a season high), including a whopping 45 in the fourth quarter. But these matchups will be quirky at times, and Plumb is coaching accordingly.

“Beforehand, I said, ‘fellas, in games like this, it’s just about getting out injury-free, getting the win, putting on a good show for the fans, and having good morale leaving the game.’”

And in the locker room after the game? “I said, you know, congratulations on the win, but it’s important you maintain perspective here on what we’re trying to accomplish.”

4. Renewed rivalry. So, how did the Lightning do in their first TBL-to-BSL adjustment? In their first matchup of the year against the Windsor Express, their 2023 NBLC Finals opponent, London wore the visitors down and came away with a 115-107 win Wednesday night.

It wasn’t entirely smooth sailing for the home side in a matchup that also featured the major storyline of the Lightning’s three ex-Express acquisitions this year, including former MVP Billy White, playing their former team for the first time (and Chris Jones, a controversial former Lightning guard, now with Windsor). The Express came out firing, making an eye-popping 12 of 23 (52.2%) three-point attempts in the first half and taking a 66-57 lead into halftime.

But the Lightning responded in the third quarter. And while it wasn’t quite the stuff of their dominant third quarter in Game 5 of last year’s NBLC Final, they outscored the Express 35-15 in the frame Wednesday night to take control of the game.

Fittingly, Billy White had arguably his best game of the year against his former mates, turning in a 29-point, 10-rebound double-double with six assists and a pair of steals. Jermaine Haley Jr. and Jeremiah Mordi scored 24 and 22 points, respectively, while Shadell Millinghaus double-doubled with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

And then the drama began. After a seemingly perfectly amicable game, a good bout between two good teams, the tension finally arose when longtime Windsor head coach Bill Jones left the court without joining the postgame handshake line. He exchanged a quick handshake and hug with Billy White, but then walked off the court.

He did, though, still have time to jaw with his former guard, Nick Garth, from across the court (Garth didn’t take kindly to the coach’s actions and made some gestures of his own). Express guard Latin Davis started a bit of a postgame pushy-shovey with Garth (nothing more than that). All were prepared, and Plumb ushered his team off the court.

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

5. A totally irresponsible and early look at stats – offense. It’s waaaay too early to be looking at Lightning stats vs. other teams in the league, especially considering that two teams (Windsor and Newfoundland) have only played two games apiece. But these are the stats we have (prior to Wednesday’s contest), so let’s look at them.

London isn’t have issues scoring, averaging 113.3 points per game while shooting a league-leading 47.8% from the field. That average includes a season high 143 points against the Rhode Island Kraken last Friday.

If there is a trouble spot on the offense – and that’s using a broad definition of ‘trouble’ – it’s with three-point shooting, where the Lightning ranks fourth in shooting percentage (32.2%), while taking a league-leading 286 shots from beyond the arc. That’s 70 shots more than their nearest opponent.

Three Bolts are shooting over 40% from three (Rashad Smith, Shadell Millinghaus, and the departed Marcus Ottey). Nick Garth (58) and Mike Nuga (57) have taken the most threes on the squad, with both shooting 31% through eight contests. In a game often determined by the 3, these will be interesting numbers to see develop throughout the year. It’s already having an impact on the team. Recently released Ben Mockford may have lost his job based on the sharp-shooter’s dullness from beyond the arc, making only 9 of 34 attempts (26.5%).

And defense … 

Early or not, here is a number that matters a lot to a Doug Plumb-coached team – 106.6. That’s the number of points per game the Lightning are allowing this season. While that number is good for third in the league, behind both Newfoundland and KW (105), it won’t be nearly good enough for Plumb, who wrote all four Gospels of Defense. Last season, the Lightning gave up 95.5 points per game – more than 5 points per game better than the closest rival. 

Yes, we don’t know what kind of league the BSL will be. Maybe it will be a super high-scoring, free-flowing league and defensive numbers will look like this. But we do know four of the teams in the BSL pretty well, so last year’s mark would seem a reasonable goal. (Sudbury, for the record, is last in the league by giving up 112.3 points per game.)

London is holding opponents to shooting 42% from the field and 32% from beyond the arc. They are, on average, outrebounding opponents by 4.3 boards a game, while also averaging 7.4 steals and 2.3 blocks.

UPCOMING GAMEDAYS

7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24 vs. Windsor Express

7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27 vs. Tri-State Admirals

2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28 vs. Montreal Tundra

Part of the sales pitch of the new league to former NBL Canada teams was the fact there would be plenty of home games on their schedules. For London, that means this stretch of seven straight games at The Bud, plus another six straight in late February/early March. The Bolts don’t return to the road until a third trip to Sudbury on Feb. 10. The Lightning are 6-0 at home this season.

BEYOND THE BYLINE

OK, so seabirds are not our usual fare, but this oral history is incredible – and everyone loves puffins. In 1973, a young biologist hatched a plan to bring this charismatic seabird back to Maine. It was the start of a five-decade scientific adventure that would ultimately revolutionize seabird restoration. To mark the 50th anniversary of Project Puffin, Audubon wrote this wonderful oral history.