A speed bump right before the All-Star Break didn’t do enough to stall the Lake Show.
Behind 14 points from D-Fish, who shot 6-of-10 from the field and drained two-of-five threes, LA cruised to a 96-83 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
Derek opened his scoring with a couple of driving layups in the first quarter.
He continued his barrage by draining a three late in the second that helped the Lakers build a nine-point halftime edge. The shot sparked this nugget from Mike Trudell of Lakers.com on his running diary of the game:
“Fisher’s triple put L.A. up nine, and didn’t surprise Ty (Nowell) or myself since most times Fish stays after shootaround (like today), he seems to carry over his shooting into the game.”
Already holding a sizeable advantage, LA came blazing out of the locker room and quickly pushed their lead above 20 points.
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| Fish collects two in the Lakers win (Getty Images). |
Derek had his hands all over the outburst, knocking down two running jumpers and a three-point dagger in the process. D-Fish also racked up all three of his assists in the third before giving way to Jordan Farmar with 1:01 remaining in the third and LA leading by 22. The blowout allowed No. 2 to enjoy the rest of the game from a comfortable seat on the bench.
The victory jumped LA’s league best mark to 43-10 this season heading into their contest tonight.
NEXT UP
The Lakers take the nearly six-hour trip up US 5 tonight to San Francisco where they’ll play Derek’s former team, the Golden State Warriors.
In two seasons with Golden State, D-Fish averaged 12.6 points per game while setting career highs in shots attempted and made as well as minutes per game.
This year Derek has been a thorn in his former team’s side. In their first meeting, No. 2 tallied 19 points on 9-12 from the field in just 24 minutes. He added five assists, three rebounds and a steal as LA blewout the Warriors 130-113 at STAPLES Center on December 28.
In their second meeting, the Lakers pulled out a seesaw battle, taking home a 114-106 road victory over Golden State. Derek contributed nine points and eight assists, just missing out on a double double in the loss.
The Lakers and Warriors tip-off tonight at 7:30 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen live on ESPN.
RELATED STORIES
Hawks at Lakers Play by Play (NBA.com, February 17, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090217/ATLLAL/playbyplay.html
Hawks at Lakers Box Score (NBA.com, February 17, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090217/ATLLAL/boxscore.html
Lakers vs. Hawks Running Diary at BasketBlog (Lakers.com, February 17, 2009)
http://my.lakers.com/blogs/2009/02/17/lakers-hawks-running-diary/#more-5764
Lakers roll past Hawks (LA Times, February 18, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-hawks18-2009feb18,0,2540989.story?track=rss