What the Lakers needed was a spark, and D-Fish provided it.
Derek scored the first four points of the game and six of his eight points in the opening three minutes as the Lakers downed the Rockets 102-96 in Houston on Wednesday night.
At the Los Angeles Times’ Lakers Blog, Andrew Kamenetzky called Derek’s early game play “inspired” and lauded his hustle and early scoring.
The Lakers would eventually lose the early lead that D-Fish gave them, but came from behind in the fourth to secure a crucial win against a Western Conference foe.
No. 2 recorded his other two points in the final frame, helping LA put the game on ice with two clutch free throws with 16 seconds to go. D-Fish finished the evening with eight points, two assists, three defensive boards and a steal.
OLD FRIEND VISITS
After Derek’s clutch performance in the early minutes of their big win in Houston last night, the Lakers were paid a visit from an old friend who reinvented the term “clutch.”
Robert Horry strolled through the Lakers’ locker room last night, exchanging pleasantries with coach Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant before receiving a big hug from D-Fish, as noted in the LA Times:
“My night is great now,” said Fisher, a teammate of Horry’s for eight seasons. “I’ve seen my dude now.”
FOXY PHIL
Few coaches have the affect on their players that Phil Jackson does.
In an article for NBA.com, Dave McMenamin takes a closer look at the intricacies of the man behind the nine NBA Championship rings.
Among other things, McMenamin mentions Phil’s tendency to evaluate his players with references to animals:
“Jackson has a propensity to compare players to animals, as if he’s telling stories around a campfire. Jackson described Michael Jordan as having “a pit bull’s mentality.” He made a cameo in the 2005 film Harlem Globetrotters: The Team that Changed the World and labeled one of the Globetrotters a “jack rabbit.” This season he illustrated Trevor Ariza’s defense by saying, “He’s a cobra out there and he just strikes and takes the ball and he’s terrific at it.”
Which leads to the obvious question: What animal is Jackson?
“A fox,” says Derek Fisher, who has played for Jackson for seven of the nine seasons that Jackson’s been in L.A. “He’s really sly. He doesn’t make a lot of noise when he’s around. He just kind of comes and does what he wants to do and needs to do and then he disappears back out into the woods. He’s just chilling amongst the trees.”
NEXT UP
The Southwest road trip continues with the second half of a Texas two-step tonight in San Antonio.
The Spurs and Lakers have split two games so far this season, each team winning their home tilt. D-Fish had one of his best games of the season in the Lakers’ nail-biting, 112-111, loss in San Antonio on January 14.
No. 2 scored 16 points on 5-10 shooting. He was white-hot from beyond the arc, draining all four of his three-point attempts as LA fell just short. Derek added two assists, two boards and a steal in the loss.
The Lakers currently hold a 7.5 game lead over the second place Spurs for the top seed in the Western Conference.
The Lakers and Spurs tip-off at 5 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen live, nationwide on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Lakers 102, Rockets 96: Shorthanded but not empty handed (LA Times Lakers Blog, March 11, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/03/lakers-102-rock.html
Lakers get visit from Horry (LA Times, March 11, 2009)
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2009/03/lakers-get-visi.html
Lakers’ Jackson marches on toward 10th title as an NBA coach (NBA.com, March 11, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/dave_mcmenamin/03/11/jackson.200902311/index.html