Derek and the Lakers continued their interstellar play last night, turning a halftime deficit into a 17-point victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis.
For the Lakers (37-9) the 115-98 victory over Memphis was their 14th on the road against just five losses. They’re 2-0 on their current road trip.
Derek scored just two points in the first two quarters, but caught his stride in the third when the Lakers needed him the most.
“We talked about the fact that this team has a new coach and that they’ve only played a few games and there were going to be some things offensively that we didn’t expect,” Derek told KCAL. “We felt like at halftime we had a better feel for what they were going to do and we just played a much better defensive half.”
D-Fish scored eight points in the third quarter. His first bucket, a long three just over a minute into the period drew the Lakers within one.
The teams traded barbs for the next several minutes and No. 2 buried another three to give the Lake Show a 75-72 lead with 5:28 to go in the third.
The Grizzlies stormed back to take the advantage but D-Fish pulled up for a short jumper that gave LA a one-point lead with a hair over five minutes to play. The bucket set off a 10-0 Lakers run that put the game away.
Memphis’s close proximity to Derek’s hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas gave him a different level of comfort in Memphis’ FedEx Forum, as quoted by KCAL:
“I’ve had some good shooting games in this building,” he said. “It’s always great to play in front of a lot of friends and family. My mom is back home in LA with my wife and kids but my dad and a lot of other family members are here tonight so it was a lot of fun and I’m glad we won.”
No. 2 added four fourth quarter points to put the game on ice.
D-FISH REACTS TO BYNUM’S INJURY
KCAL out of LA caught up with Derek after the game to get his thoughts on the injury to Lakers’ center Andrew Bynum:
“It’s just very unfortunate,” he said. “We were looking forward to having everyone back to finish off these last few months of the season. To now lose Andrew, for, we don’t know how long yet, it’s very unfortunate. However we do have still a very good basketball team and we’re going to expect success.”
To see Derek talk about how everyone on the team’s role changes with Bynum out, check out the clip at NBA.com.
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Lakers 115, Grizzlies 98 Postgame (Lakers.com Basketblog, January 31, 2009)
http://my.lakers.com/blogs/2009/01/31/lakers-115-grizzlies-98-postgame/
Derek Fisher postgame (NBA.com, January 30, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/video/games/grizzlies/2009/02/01/nba_lal_mem_0020800695_dfisher.nba/index.html
Lakers at Grizzlies Box Score (NBA.com, January 30, 2009)
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