Eagles’ Gordon still confident
FIVE consecutive defeats in a short space of time with a far from full roster has spiralled the Newcastle Eagles out of the BBL play-off positions for the first time in a long, long time particularly at this late stage of the campaign.
They are in the final month of the regular season and face the almost unreal scenario of not being involved in the end of season play-off games. It is a situation that Head Coach Ian Macleod, his assistants and players need to rectify quickly.
But, in the midst of all this, they are far from out of touch of the higher reaches of The BBL. With six games to go they could still find form, consistency and wins that would still give them a chance of a higher seeding in the play-off series.
A 103-77 loss on Friday night at the Vertu Motors Arena at the hands of Leicester Riders does not look or feel good. But credit has to go to a Riders team that is playing an outstanding level of basketball this season and has them deservedly at a different level to all others.
A point that Eagles forward Justin Gordon conceded as he surveyed the latest Eagles defeat and current position.
“Leicester are a really good team and number one in the league for a reason. We showed some signs and fight out there but it just didn’t go the way we wanted. We scored 62 points in the half-court which is pretty good for us this season.”
“We got away from our offence a little bit but when we moved the ball we got good shots. But when you’re playing against 10 guys deep and our team’s a little light right now with guys out injured and their depth definitely helped them as the game went on.”
Gordon who had done his best on the night to try and plug the gaps with 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists of his own, pointed to the absence of shooting guard Wes Person Jr. in particular as someone Newcastle missed.
“Wes is always going to be missed. When he’s out on the floor he’s a really good player. He creates a lot for us on offence, gives us a lot of energy on defence as well.
“He’s a really good guy and we definitely need him. We just want him to get healthy, focus on himself first and get back to us when he can.”
Gordon still remains confident with the league placings so tight that the Eagles will make the play-off series at the end of the regular season.
“There’s no let-up. The next step action is to forget about this game right now. Whether it takes 30 minutes, an hour or five hours we have to forget about it quickly and move on. We have Cheshire coming up next and they are a really good team.”
“We need to start preparing for them as soon as we can and use the week we have in practice to concentrate on getting ourselves right and be ready for their challenge.”
It would be easy to say that this Eagles side looks shorn of confidence but speaking with Gordon you can still see a fire in his eyes and a determination to put things right and show this Newcastle side still has a major voice to sound this season.