Game winning hero sees big things for Lightning

Image credit: @slmediaau

Josh Davey lived out every player's dream with a game winning shot and is looking forward to further Australian Gangurrus 3x3 opportunities, but above everything else he is expecting big NBL1 West things from the Lakeside Lightning in 2026.

The Lightning were right up against it on the road to the Rockingham Flames on Saturday night having lost their first two games of the season while having one import injured, one yet to arrive and then their own local gun, Corey Shervill, unavailable.

However, Lakeside put in a spirited showing all evening with Ben Fairclough, Liam Patterson, Tim Hollick and Trey Crawford among the emerging players to shine, and then Davey had the ball in his hands with the game on the line.

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Michael Garbellini was able to end up getting the ball to him, he was open in front of the Rockingham bench and with time winding down, his three ball never looked like missing and the Lightning got their season up and going in stirring fashion.

Considering the players they still have to come in, Davey has no doubt that the Lightning team of 2026 can be successful having not played finals the past two years and not won a playoff game since 2021.

"We were down a lot of players as well as they were, but we're as good as anyone in this league as long as we fight and play hard, I have belief in our guys and we think we can take it the whole way for sure this year," Davey said on The Hoop Hour on 91.3 SportFM.

"We're a good team and I think teams in the past couple of years when we haven’t been as good might roll in and think they have an easy game against Lakeside, but that's never going to be the case this year. We're ready to fight and go out there and get some wins, and shake up the league."

That winning shot

Davey might be a renowned rebounder and that work crashing the boards is where he has built a lot of his reputation, but he has made it a focus to continue to develop his offensive arsenal as well.

His three-point attempts might have fallen to just 26 in 17 games last year after a career-high 75 in 23 matches in 2023, but especially in the 3x3 experience he's got he has made sure he has become more of a scoring and shooting threat.

That's why he was so confident once he caught that pass from Garbellini with the game on the line that he could just let it fly.

"It was obviously a pretty cool moment and I don’t think I've ever done anything like that before so it was awesome, it felt really good," Davey said.

"We had a play designed there and Rockingham did a good job of sort of junking the ball out of our hands, but it just happened to get to me and I was open, and it felt good the whole time.

"It's definitely something I've worked on over the last couple of seasons to add into my game, and it's something that I just have confidence in because my teammates believe in me to take that shot.

"That's why Garb passed it off and it's just something that's an area of my game I'm continuing to grow in and I'm excited about it."

Rebounding remains a key focus

Just because Davey wants to be more of an offensive threat doesn't mean he's forgetting where his bread is buttered on the boards as he continues to legacy of rebounding at Lakeside carried on from the all-time league leader Jarrad Prue (7226 in 400 games).

Davey has now collected 1260 rebounds across his 141-game career with Lakeside but ultimately, as long as the team is winning that possession game he's happy.

They did exactly that against Rockingham with Ben Fairclough grabbing 14 of the team's rebounds as they won the overall count 50 to 39 along with pulling down 21 offensive boards.

"Really my job's just to be the glue team guy and provide whatever the team needs, and obviously rebounding is a strong suit of mine so I'll continue to do that," Davey said.

"But Steve (Bezant) just tells me to be aggressive and my teammates have worked with me in the off-season to gain more confidence in my offensive game too.

"I think it's a team effort on the rebounds always and we had Ben Fairclough, or Big Red we call him, stepping up big time and I was doing the box out duties and he was coming in to clean them up.

"As long as we're winning the rebound count and we're winning games I'm happy to fulfil whatever role's necessary whether that's cleaning up the glass or hitting game winning shots."

Developing Lakeside talent

Another reason that Davey is so optimistic about how well the Lightning can perform this season is because of the continued emergence of a young core of local Lakeside players.

With Liam Patterson having a career-best 23 points, Ben Fairclough 14 rebounds and two blocks, Tim Hollick 12 points, three steals and drawing a massive offensive foul late, Tyson Kelly having three assists, and Trey Crawford a crucial seven points and seven rebounds, Davey sees a bright future.

"One thing Lakeside does really well is developing that young core and I think we've been developing over a couple of years now as well," Davey said.

"These guys have had little spurts of opportunity and it's really good for them now to be able to get that extended opportunity.

"I just trust them that they are ready to take responsibility and grab that opportunity, and they're doing really well so far."

Developing through 3x3 experience

Not only has Davey made his mark at Lakeside in the NBL1 West and didn’t look out of place in the NBL at the Cairns Taipans, he's also putting together quite the impressive resume in the 3x3 game including as part of the Australian Gangurrus team.

He has found those skills he has developed by playing 3x3 has always translated well to helping him come back to playing with the Lightning or whether he's plus the full five-on-five basketball too.

"Obviously 3x3 is a lot different to 5x5 and the IQ and understanding of the game is a lot different so there's some things that just don't translate over, but being really good in ball screens, and being able to defend multiple positions helps," Davey said.

"You have to do that really well in 3x3 and I get to do that in 5x5 as well, and then in the ball screen-hand off situations there's lot of little nuances I've picked up from 3x3 and have been able to implement in 5x5 and our games.

"But just the motor I get from playing 3x3 when it's such a physical game, it's high-paced and you play outdoors as well in humid environments so it can be really tough on the body.

Then when I come back from a 3x3 camp or tournament or I always feel like my best and fittest which helps me play and perform on the court because I am that kind of energy guy so it's good."

Still part of Australian Gangurrus

Davey remains a firm part of Gangurrus coach Adam Forde's plans moving forward in 3x3 for Australia too having been in Cairns for a camp just after the NBL season and ahead of last week's Asia Cup.

With Davey already having been part of the gold medal Asia Cup winning team in 2024 and also playing at the World Cup last year, he's looking forward to pulling on the green-and-gold plenty more times.

"I went across just a few weeks ago in Cairns for a camp and I'm part of that rotation now and the luxury with me is that I've played in a couple of tournaments before so I have ranking points and have qualified for things like the World Cup," Davey said.

"We need to focus in 3x3 right now of building the depth in the program and then come around the next couple of tournaments is when I'll look to have my hat in the right to be playing again so that will be good."

A different Kalgoorlie trip

Coming off the stirring road win over Rockingham without Shervill or an import, the challenges keep coming to start the season as they head to Kalgoorlie this Saturday night to take on a Goldfields Giants team chasing a first win of 2026.

Davey is looking forward to experiencing a different way of getting there too.

"We're actually taking the train up this time, maybe petrol prices have meant the bus can't go up," Davey said.

"So that's new and I've never taken the train before so I'm sure I'll entertain myself just exploring the train and stretching the legs a little bit.

"Usually Benny Lee is pretty good and he does a quiz and we'll do a couple of rounds of that with some prizes so he'll keep us entertained for sure."