All That Jazz: When NBLC Basketball Came To Montreal

They were created to put a professional basketball presence in the biggest province of Canada. They ended as the worst-performing team in NBL Canada history. Creating the Montreal Jazz showed ambition and desire for growth in the NBLC, but those good intention were, unfortunately, did not translate into good results on the court.

It was only the second NBLC season but there was going to be big changes in the make-up of the league. The Quebec Kebs, the association's Quebecois contingent who had finished third the season before, had moved from Quebec City to nearby Laval in the off-season.

The team that would have been the Laval Kebs, though, never played a game. The franchise folded with just weeks to go before the 2012-13 season start, which prompted the league governors to act and fill the gaps left by the Kebs' departure.

A replacement team in the province was fast-tracked into existence, this time based in the largest city in Quebec. Owned by the league and coached by the Kebs general manager Pascal Jobin, it's roster was assembled in haste ready for the start date of early November 2012. Taking inspiration from the annual music festival held in the city, the new team was named the Montreal Jazz.

On November 3rd 2012 everyone got to see what this new franchise would look like in action. On the road against the Saint John Mill Rats, they struggled to make an impression or put a dent on the game. Despite a double-double from Sani Ibrahim, the Jazz suffered a heavy first defeat, 100 points to 75.

The team lost their next two games before making their home debut at Centre Pierre Charbonneau, part of Montreal's Olympic park. Though their fourth outing was a much tighter contest than their first three, the London Lightning were able to sink the dagger at the end, resulting in another loss for the Jazz, except this time by three points.

This streak continued for the Jazz in their next thirteen games before they were finally able to bring this long losing skid to an end on January 3rd. With six players scoring in double digits, they were able to get the win at home over the Windsor Express, 104-98.

Two days later, again against the Express but this time in Windsor, the Jazz played their part in what would be a historic game for the NBL Canada. Leading Windsor at the end of the first half, the Express fought back when play resumed and at the final buzzer the teams were tied at 91 apiece, but an extra period of overtime wouldn't be enough to decide the outcome. Nor would a second. For the first time ever an NBLC game went into triple overtime.

The excitement built and built in the WFCU Centre as the Jazz fought long and hard to capture another win. Eric Frederick and Juan Mendez both finished with double-doubles for Montreal, but it was Windsor who came away with the all-important win, with the final score 124-121 in their favour.

Sore from the loss, the Jazz exacted revenge in their next game against the Oshawa Power, picking up their second win of the season, 114-106. Little were they to know that would be their last win. The team went on an even longer losing streak, going their remaining nineteen games of the season without picking up another W.

Their biggest blow came as the regular season started to wind down; on March 3rd, Montreal were on the receiving end of the then highest individual score in league history. The Moncton Miracles' Devin Sweetney scored 56 points against them en route to an extraordinary 135-87 win.

The dejected Jazz were resigned to missing out on the playoffs with only two wins to their name, their season then came to an end at home on March 9th where, even though they led London for the first three quarters, the Lightning were able to carve out a victory in overtime, the final score 120-116. This would not only be their last game of 2013, but also their last game as a franchise.

Through a combination of being unable to secure a buyer for the team and having to vacate the Centre Pierre Charbonneau, the Jazz sat out the 2013-14 season, during which time they quietly folded. With that, they finished with unprecedented team stats: an end of season win percentage of just 0.5% and a franchise record of 5.2% of games going their way.

Despite their struggles all through their single season existence, there were some bright sparks within the franchise which could have been worked on and become part of their game plan had they been able to move forward. The Jazz were one of the best teams in the 2012-13 for steals, with Chris Hagan leading the league in individual steals with 2.5 per game.

There were other notable individual performances from Montreal in the season. Sheray Thomas, who played ten games with the franchise, was named to the All-Canadian first team, while their centre Jonas Pierre made the All-Defensive second team and JR Harrison was voted a Central Division All-Star. They also saw good work all season from Frederick, the team's top scorer; Juan Mendez, who mad the most starts; as well as import player Xavier Delarue from France.

The Montreal Jazz's record have made them one of the biggest anomalies of the NBL Canada to date. The team gave their all every time, but put together at the last minute left no time for the squad to gel or for a real, competitive game plan to be formed. Despite their fleeting presence, the Jazz are still a part of NBLC history and that crowds were still turning out to see them despite the regular losses, shows the love for basketball there is in the city of Montreal. It gives hope to the notion that one day there will be a new, more successful team based in the city.

Do you have any memories when the Montreal Jazz were part of the NBL Canada? Did you ever get to see them play? If so, leave them in the comments so we can all share them.