Jamon Gordon: Keep fighting!

Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul may be debuting in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, but most of its players have been around the competition for many years. One of them is combo guard Jamon Gordon, for whom Darussafaka is his fifth Euroleague team. Gordon previously played the competition with Maroussi, Olympiacos Piraeus, Galatasaray Istanbul and Anadolu Efes Istanbul. One of the best players in Europe at reading passing lanes, Gordon leads all Euroleague players with 100 career games or more in steals per game (1.78). You can catch up with Gordon with his blog and on his Twitter account, @LilReb22. Enjoy!

We come off a crazy game against Fenerbahce. They started off really well from the beginning and we were down by lot of points. Our starting players were out for most of the second half and the players that came off the bench gave a great effort. They fought the whole game and got us closer: we just couldn't get the key stops to take the lead. But like I said, it was a crazy game. It is not easy to see a Euroleague game with both teams scoring at least 100 points. It was a great game. Fenerbahce is a great team and they have a great coach and we have to keep some positive things out of this game to use in the next one. We had a great atmosphere and unfortunately, we lost, but we can take some good things from that game. 

Mainly, we fought back, and did it against what right now, at this moment, could be the best team in Europe. We fought back the whole game and that is something positive, even when winning is the main thing. We need to get a win as soon as possible. It was good to see that everybody was fighting together as a team, not giving up. I had my mind made up after the last game. I was going to step on court and play as hard as I could, no matter what, no matter if I missed every shot or I made every shot. I was way more focused, trying to lead by example and not by talking. I played good but, like I said, winning is the main thing. I have to try to be more focused and lead by example.  

We played Anadolu Efes before we played Fenerbahce, so I haven't really been outside Turkey in the last couple of weeks. It is good to spend more time with our families without travelling and practice. We are getting back on the road to face Panathinaikos in Athens this week. It will great to be back at OAKA. I played for Maroussi some years ago and OAKA was our home gym. As you probably know, I also played for Olympiacos in its big rivalry with Panathinaikos. It is always good to go back to Greece, where my Euroleague career started. I kind of made a name for myself in Greece, so it is always great to be back. 

We had a good year in Maroussi, my first in the Euroleague. We were one win away from making it to the playoffs! It was a great year on the court. Like I tell everybody, it was the best team that I played on as far as everybody being together and fighting to get better as a team. Kostas Kaimakoglou was our captain, one of the best captains I had in my career. I loved everything about that team and I will never forget it. 

Dimitris Diamantidis might be the best point guard that ever played in Europe. It is always good to go against him. He is a good person, a good dude and every time I see him, he is all smiles. Nick Calathes and I grew up in Florida and his brother Pat played with me for Maroussi, so it will be great to play against Nick, too. Panathinaikos has a great backcourt and a great team with great history. Of course, they have a lot fans at the games. It is the type of team you want to have a good game against and the type of players you want to show your skills against. I can't wait to play against them! 

The key to stopping Panathinaikos will be to control the game and not let the fans get involved. We cannot allow Diamantidis and Calathes to penetrate and give easy assists, getting other players involved. We need good transition defense, that is the most important thing on the road. We have to keep the game under control and that is the main thing to be worried about. You need to put pressure on them and not let them feel relaxed in the game, but against players like those, sometimes there is nothing you can do. Playing team defense is always the best way to succeed, but players like Diamantidis and Calathes seems to have answers for every type of defense. The key is to try to take the easy points away from them and make it tough on them. But they are great players, no doubt about it.

We are confident we will start winning. Right now, we have no other choice! The only good thing about losing is that you can only go up. A loss is a loss, no matter if you lose by one point or by 30. We can only go up and, like I said, we took some positive things out of that loss against Fenerbahce. We have to keep fighting and I think we have a good group of players. Me, being the leader, I think I should do more and I can do more, so I can take the blame for whatever happened so far. I just hope we can come together as a team and get on the right track.

There have been a lot of surprises in the Euroleague this season, not just in our group. There is no clear-cut favorite in our group. Fenerbahce may have the best record right now, but Lokomotiv is one of the best teams in the competition. Even on the other side, I am surprised by Barcelona, Madrid, CSKA... it is up and down in the Euroleague: I really don't know the reason why, I am just surprised about the scores. Each week there are tough games and each week you think a team is the favorite, then they lose. It is just a crazy year but you can tell that the Euroleague is more competitive now. There is not one team dominating every game, and that is a good thing. A few years back, the same teams would make it to the playoffs and the Final Four. It is good to have dominant teams but it is better to have more great teams. It makes you want to give your best every week. It is better for the fans, the competition... and for everyone! 

Our next home game is against Crvena Zvezda and I hope to see a lot of our fans there. Every game is critical for us and we need to come out and fight until our last one!