Express defeat Lightning in london, Dec. 30/12

[greasedlight]

Congrats to the Express for beating the reigning NBL champion London Lightning in London today. The Express were full value for the victory, after getting hammered by the Lightning last night in Windsor. A boisterous, partisan crowd of about 3,000 at the Budweiser Gardens were treated to an excelent game. The Lightning mounted a spirited comeback in the final quarter after trailing by over twenty points. But the Express handled the pressure well and stuck to their game plan: to agressively drive to the basket and crash the boards, the only proven blueprint for beating the Lightning. The fact that both teams were each playing their third game in three cities over only four nights may have favoured Windsor, who have a younger team. The Lightning did not defeat themselves with mistakes; Windsor simply outplayed them. For the second night in a row, the Express held the Lightning to under 110 pts, a noteworthy feat since London averages over 120 pts. per game. The keys to today's victory for the Express were consistently hitting three pointers, which they could not do at all last night in Windsor, and playing aggressive offense and defense against the Lightning. Did we witness the birth of a new '401 rivalry' today? Perhaps. The Lightning are planning to run two busloads of rabid fans to Windsor for the January 27 Windsor home game at the WFCU. See you there? I'll be there, wearing the Lightning colours with 100 or more other Lightning supporters.

[JJSA]

It turned in to a real nail biter in the last 5 minutes or so. Sure Windsor won, but they also damn near blew a 20 point lead in the 4th quarter. I'm sure Jones gave his players an ear full and a half in the locker room after the game.

Overall this is exactly the type of thing the Central division is in dire need of. While the Atlantic division has been wildly entertaining, the Central has been a snooze fest. In a new and emerging league nobody wants to see one team (London) at 16-2, while another (Montreal) are a total (sad) joke at 0-17.

Thank you Windsor for beating London and giving everyone a reason to pay attention to the Central division!

[Minty Fresh]

A little late on the reply but that was indeed a great game. I doubt the Windsor coach gave anyone an earful though. He would leave that to his coaches, poor guy can hardly speak above a whisper. Great coach though I think. Him and the Oshawa coach Blunt seem like good coaches and nice guys. Even though Blunt did have a brain cramp in his last game against London telling one of his players to foul late in the game off the ball. 2 shots and possession pretty much sealed the game at that point.

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