D-Fish and co. continue the road trip to end all road trips tonight when they battle the Detroit Pistons at the Palace at Auburn Hills.
The Pistons are one of only 13 teams to beat LA this season. They handed the Lakers their first loss of the year on November 14, 2008, 106-95, in Los Angeles.
Derek scored nine points in the loss. He’ll look to perfect his shooter’s stroke tonight in Mo-town.
As a team, LA hasn’t fared well at the Palace recently, as reported by the LA Times:
“The Lakers might as well call Detroit the Portland of the Eastern Conference, even though it doesn’t have the look or feel of a drizzly day in a quaint Pacific Northwest city.
The Lakers have endured a drought here that more than matches their futility streak in Portland, a 0-9 mark in the Motor City tracing back to their last victory here in March 2002.
It includes some blowouts (103-81 in 2005 and 111-88 in 2003), a last-second loss (90-89 in January 2008) and, most famously, three consecutive one-sided defeats in the 2004 NBA Finals.”
In that NBA Finals series, No. 2 averaged 6.4 points per game, including 7.6 ppg in the final three games at the Palace. He tacked on three boards per contest and one steal per game.
D-Fish expressed to the Times why Detroit is an especially tough place to play a road game:
“They play defense, you know?” guard Derek Fisher said. “It makes it tough to win games there.”
WOUNDED PISTONS
The Lakers may catch a break tonight because Allen Iverson, Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace are all not expected to play.
That leaves Aaron Affalo and Rodney Stuckey to handle Derek, which should be no easy task.
PHIL’S RUN AT PAT
With a victory tonight, Lakers coach Phil Jackson would tie Pat Riley as the winningest coach in Lakers history, no small feat for such a storied franchise and another bullet on Jackson’s Hall of Fame resume.
No. 2 has grown under the tutelage of coach Jackson and respects his skill at the coaching craft, as quoted by the Oklahoman:
“It’s not all about basketball,” Fisher said. “He believes in a balance in life that also applies to how you play on the court. He emphasizes all five guys are important, even if you have a superstar like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan. He stresses all five guys must mesh well to be successful.”
GAME TIME!
LA needs just two wins to clinch the best record in the Western Conference. The 56-14 Lakers are four games from the 60-game plateau.
They sit a game and a half behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA.
Tonight’s game in Detroit tips-off at 4:30 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen live in LA on KCAL. Radio coverage is provided by KLAC AM 570 with Spero Dedes on play-by-play and Mychal Thompson providing color commentary.
RELATED STORIES
Lakers’ Jackson wanting to hit 60 on the road (LA Daily News, March 26, 2009)
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_11998704?source=rss
Lakers have a chance to sneak in victory over Pistons (LA Times, March 26, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakersfyi26-2009mar26,0,43865.story?track=rss
Up next for the Lakers: Detroit (LA Times, March 26, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-tonight26-2009mar26,0,448452.story?track=rss
Is Phil Jackson the best NBA coach of all-time (NewsOK.com, March 24, 2009)
http://www.newsok.com/is-phil-jackson-the-best-nba-coach-of-all-time/article/3355738?custom_click=headlines_widget