When he takes the floor tonight in LA for the Lakers’ final game of the regular season, Derek will complete a milestone.
This season will mark the fourth consecutive one that No. 2 has played in every game, and the second straight in which he’s started each one.
For that reason, among others, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he didn’t think twice about allowing No. 2 and the other starters to play tonight, as quoted by the LA Times:
“I don’t think of sitting players,” Jackson said Sunday. “I don’t think that’s the right thing to do when people buy season tickets and special-game tickets and things like that, and the league has asked us not to do that. I have players that are going to play their 82nd game this week, hopefully, and that’s a big milestone in this game, to have played them all.”
Trevor Ariza and Kobe Bryant will also be playing their 82nd game of the season on Tuesday.
TUNING UP WITH JAZZ
Derek and the Lakers meet the Utah Jazz tonight in their final regular season game.
“We’re going to try to close out and make sure we’re healthy and we’re sound and we’re ready to go,” Fish said after practice on Monday.
If the Lakers win tonight, they’ll clinch a first round playoff meeting with Utah as well. D-Fish however, doesn’t feel that playing Utah tonight will have much of an effect on the series:
“In the Western Conference you play teams multiple times throughout the season,” No. 2 said. I don’t think there’s anything that teams haven’t seen from each other that all of a sudden they could pull out to make a huge impact on the series. A couple offensive sets, maybe some defensive adjustments, but not something that would change an entire series at this point.”
Derek also scoffed at the notion that the Lakers could lose to Utah to manipulate the system so they’d play New Orleans or Dallas in the first round, as quoted on Lakers.com:
“I don’t think you go into a game trying to lose in order to control who you play. There are three teams who are in the position to play us between New Orleans, Dallas, and Utah. I don’t think there’s an easier way to go I just think that you just have to line up against who you line up against and get the job done. Even though the gap seems wider record wise in the West than last year I don’t think the competition in the first round will be easier than what we had in the past.”
Derek, a former member of the Jazz, is averaging 12 points per game in two meetings with Utah this season. LA and Utah split those two games.
The Lakers and Jazz tip off tonight at 7:30 PST and all the action can be seen live, nationwide, on TNT.
MORE ON THE SHOT
As the Lakers face their final tuneup of the season today, No. 2 will take aim at getting his shooter’s stroke back heading into the postseason.
“I’m not stressed about it, but probably frustrated in terms of the way I like to be,” D-Fish said after Sunday’s win over Memphis. “I’m keeping in mind the bigger picture of being healthy and fresh going into the postseason.”
Derek has chalked up some of his recent woes to less playing time and practice time, in order to be both healthy and fresh for the games that matter most.
“I respect what coach is trying to do, in terms of the team,” Fish said. “If personally I have to take some lumps in order for us to get where we need to be, I’m comfortable with it. For me, I don’t think there’s any concern over whether I have 11 points per game or 10 points per game. It has no bearing for me.
For No. 2, the truth is, stats don’t matter as long as the team is lifting a trophy and getting fitted for jewelry in June.
“The great equalizer, the great resume builders are winning championships. I would love to do that. Last time I checked on my three rings there’s nothing on there about field goal percentage.”
NO HOME COURT, NO PROBLEM
When the Cleveland Cavaliers took care of business with a win over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night, it clinched, for them, home court advantage through the playoffs. Though the Lakers missed their goal of being the NBA’s best in the regular season, Derek noted that there’s no time to mourn, and they’ll simply readjust, as quoted by the LA Daily News:
“When you set a goal and don’t reach it, initially you’re disappointed, but . . . I don’t think we feel that without it, it’s going to keep us from accomplishing what our ultimate goal is,” he said. “We’ll just change our focus now to what the larger goal is, and that’s winning a championship.”
Fisher then pointed out that the Lakers had home-court advantage against Detroit in the 2004 NBA Finals but still lost in five games.
“There’s definitely no guarantee,” Fisher said. “It’s nice to have, it’s a good thing to be able to say you accomplished because you were the best team in the league for the whole season, but it doesn’t guarantee you anything after that.”
For videos of Derek talking about home court, the Jazz, Jordan Farmar and his shot, provided by Andrew and Brian Kamenetzky at the LA Times Lakers Blog, click here and here.
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