After winning the first four games of their season’s longest road trip, Derek and the Lakers have hit a roadblock.
D-Fish sank 75 percent of his shots, but was only allotted four, tallying six points on 3-4 shooting and provided two steals, but the Lakers fell to the Bobcats 94-84 last night in Charlotte.
No. 2’s 75 percent shooter’s touch was the highest percentage on the floor on Tuesday night, but he only got four looks thanks to a swarming Charlotte defense.
Derek knocked down a bucket in each of the first three quarters, but, despite opening up a seven point lead midway through the third, LA crumbled late and couldn’t muster a comeback.
The loss dropped the Lakers to 58-16 with eight games to play. They now sit a full three games behind Cleveland for the league’s best record, something they’ll need a lot of help to seize.
NEXT UP: BUCK-ING THE TREND
LA will look to right the ship and finish the road trip strong tonight when they head to Milwaukee for a matchup with the struggling Bucks.
The Lakers stampeded the Bucks in their only meeting earlier this season with a 105-92 victory at Staples Center on December 7th.
D-Fish scored 19 points in just over 21 minutes to help LA to victory. He also tallied a season-high five steals.
Tonight, No. 2 will get to test his personal theory that he gets stronger in the second game of a back-to-back, as quoted by Charley Rosen last week:
“I always play better in the second game of back-to-backs. I usually feel a little sluggish in the first half of the first game, but the first game gets my juices flowing.”
The Bucks and the Lakers tip-off at 5 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen live in LA on KCAL. KLAC AM 570 provides radio coverage.
ON THE BUSINESS SIDE
When the season comes to a close, Derek hopes that after hoisting the Larry O’ Brien trophy, he’ll turn his focus to hammering out another pertinent piece of business.
D-Fish, as president of the NBA Players Association will be front and center as the league tries to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement.
A story from Ken Berger of CBS Sports sets up the negotiations, with thoughts from No. 2 himself:
“Owners and players have to be willing to put on the discussion table any number of things that would allow the business to continue to be successful and grow,” said the Lakers’ Derek Fisher, president of the National Basketball Players Association. “If it’s
[fewer] games or more games, adjustments in years or salaries, whatever is out there, we’re going to have to be willing to negotiate and discuss.”Derek points to the economy as a key to making these negotiations go:
“I think this will be one of the most sincere and straightforward negotiations that we’ve had in a long time because there’s a third party that’s controlling all of us that we have no control over.”
“We definitely don’t claim to know exactly what it’s going to take to get a deal done,” Fisher said. “And I don’t think commissioner Stern is pretending that he knows all the answers at this point, either. … This is bigger than just us right now.”
For more from Derek on the CBA, check out the article here.
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Lakers’ mystique scratched again at hands of Bobcats (LA Daily News, April 1, 2009)
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Lakers lose again to Bobcats (LA Times, April 1, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-bobcats1-2009apr01,0,6342114.story?track=rss
Stakes agreeably high, cooperation stars as collective bargaining tips off (CBS Sports, March 30, 2009)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/sportsline/main11569739.shtml
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Charlotte Bobcats Box Score (ESPN.com, March 31, 2009)
http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=290331030