The 26-year-old discussed this season and Wednesday's Game 3 clash with Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse
Jonah Mathews, Besiktas: ‘We never quit!’
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Hello! First, let me explain how we got to this point. This is obviously a historic club, but even just looking at the last two years – even last year, in fact – they were facing relegation. So for them, for the club, for the fans, they brought in a great coach like Dusan Alimpijevic, who is well respected around Europe. He has all of our respect and brought the team from relegation to third in the Turkish League, in addition to making a run in the EuroCup. During the regular season, we started off hot and fell off. We lost a couple of games and ended up being the last team to make the playoffs, which is fine.
But then we went to Dreamland Gran Canaria and beat that team; after that, we kind of gelled together more than we ever have. We were down to Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv by 21 points, then we went back to the locker room together and said: ‘We don't want our season to be like this. Do we want to just be a team that beat Gran Canaria and got to the second round, or do you want to make it all the way?’ It has just been an incredible ride. Turkish fans and the Turkish community, they are with you all the way. Especially this year. Besiktas Emlakjet Istanbul has a 20 million fan base in Turkiye. We saw what happened in the big arena [Sinan Erdem Sports Hall], what we could do when we are winning and when the fans are behind us. There was great energy and it just shows you how passionate our fans are. Earlier in the season we didn't have that many fans, but as we kept on winning and winning and winning, people kept coming out and supporting us. This last game was incredible, and if we win on Wednesday, which I'm positive we will, then it's going to be even crazier than that the final!
Coach Alimpijevic and Derek Needham already had this underdog experience two years ago. Derek has been in Europe for a long time and he has seen a lot. I have only been in Europe for three years. I played in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, but just because I played there for one year, it doesn't mean you have all the experience in the world. I think Derek and especially Coach helped me change myself this year to be more mature on the court and get to this point. Derek has been here, Coach has been here, and they have been guiding us through it step by step. And just the way they handle things, you could just see he has been here before. We lost the first game in Bourg and he was very calm. He was like: ‘It's one game. I have been down in a series before. And I went to Partizan and won.’ It's one game, so that really like eased my mind after not playing so well in that game. Having Derek as a vet here to guide me and the team has really helped us a lot, too.
It is a love-hate thing when you lead a team in scoring and are one of the top players. The defense is focused on you a lot more, so sometimes it becomes harder to create shots, to get your own shot, to get open for shots. But my teammates do a great job of trusting me to make the right plays. They trust me down the stretch. They find me in the right spots to get my shot going, so I honestly give it up to them. And Coach, he gives me plays to not only create for myself but create for other people, so I like it a lot. My role at LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne was way different. Last year they brought me in just to score the ball because we had Nando De Colo, Dee Bost and a lot of guys who could do a lot of different things. This year, it was different when I first got here, having more responsibility on my shoulders. But as the season went on, it got easier and easier to lead the team. I understood what I'm supposed to do on the court.
"The last game is more a case of who wants it more."
It's Game 3 of the semifinals – do-or-die for both teams! In a series like this, with three games, the last game is more a case of who wants it more because you played each other twice. The first game is like a feel out game. We had never played there, we were obviously on the opposite side of the EuroCup bracket, so we never played them before. French basketball and Turkish basketball are way different – the leagues are different. French basketball is more up-tempo and athletic. The Turkish League is way more strategic and trying to find ways to beat teams without being athletic and stuff like that, so that is going to become really important in Game 3. If we can limit their transitions and stop their running, like we did in the second game, I think we will be fine. We’ve got to be aggressive and physical with them because they are a talented team. They have guys who could score if you let them, so I think we have to bring the same type of physicality we did in the second game, the same type of defense.
"We have to bring the same type of physicality we did in the second game."
And to be honest, our shots haven't been falling. I went 0 for 9 from three. One of our best shooters, Yigit Arslan, went 0 for 5. We missed a lot of open shots, layups, stuff like that, so our defense is clicking. But once our offense and defense click simultaneously, I think it will be very good for us. I think I'm going to play maybe in the same two pairs of shoes. I'm very superstitious, so I wore the red Kobes the whole time, but I had to change it up just to see. I changed them back in Game 2 and we won, so I don't know. I will probably start out in the black and change to the red. Or if we are going good, I'll stay with the black.
This will be our fourth do-or-die playoff game this season. So far, we have won all three. We have also been down this year a couple of times and came back. That's one thing about our team – we never quit! Once we get on that road of being aggressive and physical, then I think that's when we come alive, like did down 20 to Hapoel, which is a great team. They have really athletic, really talented guys and they have been together for a couple of years, so to come back from down 20 in a game like that, that just shows our resilience as a team and what we could do when we are all locked in and focused on one goal.
I want this win really bad, as everybody does on the team, and it is not just a case of making it to the finals. It shows people for next year that wherever you go, if you come to Besiktas, you are a winner. You care about winning at this point. It's not about points. It's not about statistics. It's not about egos. It's not about any of that. It's about winning, showing that you are a winner and that your team can win – this is the biggest thing for us. Getting to the finals after not playing in the EuroCup for eight years would be huge for the club, and winning the EuroCup would be even bigger. For me, personally, it is just a big target on the résumé, for sure. Having these fans in the EuroLeague would be insane… really insane!!