EXPRESS FACE ELIMINATION
The Windsor Express could use a little bench help in the battle for the NBL of Canada title.
It's no secret the London Lightning have used a deep bench to win back-to-back games. Tuesday's 112-107 comeback win left the Lightning with a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series with a chance to claim the title with a win in Game 4 on Thursday in Windsor.
“Our bench has been massive for us,” said Lightning head coach Doug Plumb, who has seen his reserves outscore Windsor's 116-51 in the series. “We usually have more balanced scoring. The strength of our team is our depth.”
By contrast, the Express go with a core of about seven players and those heavy minutes can take a toll as the game goes on.
“That could be true because we're only playing six, seven, eight guys,” Express head coach Bill Jones said of fatigue. “(Ja'myrin) Jackson played 46 minutes and (34-year-old Billy) White played 41, but you've got to go with your stars. That's what it is for us.”
Windsor's 10-man roster has players that could help more, but Jones said sometimes players get caught up in personal goals and worrying about points and minutes played.
“If you want to play an individual sport, then play tennis or golf,” Jones said. “Basketball is a team game. In basketball, in this type of environment, it's a puzzle.
“We have 10 pieces and if one goes away, it makes it tough to put that puzzle together, but we've got another chance. Get through the adversity and give themselves a chance to get to a Game 5.”
That's where Windsor's focus was Wednesday in preparation for Game 4 on Thursday where the Express must find a way to extend the series to the maximum, which would be played Friday in London.
“We've just got to find the right players that want to win,” said Jackson, who had a game-high 30 points. “Find the players that have the heart and want to win a championship.
“It's all about coming together and focusing on the goal and that's Game 5. Win Thursday, go back and win on Friday.”
Plumb admits he had to deal with some infighting on his club after Windsor took the series opener in London.
“Coming off the first game (loss), a lot of things happened that were not very typical of what we do,” Plumb said. “We had infighting and stuff like that and we regrouped.”
Instead, the Lightning have focused on forcing the Express to stay on the move in hopes of wearing them down.
“We just stuck with the game plan,” guard Terry Thomas Jr., who paced the London offence with 28 points, said of battling back from a double-digit deficit. “We didn't try to change anything.
“Honestly, our game plan was they're getting kind of fatigued, hopefully their shooting's not going to be (great) the whole night and we're going to finish.”
Between the heavy minutes and just six points from the bench, it was credit to the Express to battle back from a 15-point deficit in the final 10 minutes to make it a onepoint game in the final minute.
“We tell them we have another game at home, we want to be able to use that energy and anything can happen in Game 5,” Jones said. “We've got to be able to win Game 4 and the next day we play again.”
That deciding game would be played in London, but the Lightning are focused on not taking that risk.
“It would be nice for the fans, but I wasn't raised like that,” Thomas Jr. said.