Nobody ever said it would be easy.
 Fish for three (Getty Images). |
Derek and the Lakers cut their magic number to 14 and took a 2-0 lead in their first round playoff series by escaping with a 119-109 victory over the Utah Jazz last night at the Staples Center.
“In the playoffs it’s tough to grade games,” D-Fish said from his locker after the game. “It’s so important just to win. I’m not going allow myself, or the team, to gauge how we’re supposed to win in the playoffs. Being the best is not easy and if championships came pre-packaged, there would be a lot more people that have won them.”
No. 2 scored 11 points by knocking down three big triples and dished out five assists to help point LA to the win, and he made it clear after the game: If the Lakers win those next 14 games, they don’t care how they do it or how long it takes.
“We’re trying to do something that we didn’t get a chance to do last year,” he said. “I guarantee you we’d trade places with Boston last year even if we had to play two game sevens and go to game six and get in the Finals and win in game six. We’d take that as opposed to going 12-1 in the Western Conference and then losing in the Finals. Whatever it takes to win, that’s what we’ll do.”
To see Fish discuss the importance of winning in the postseason, click here for video shot by Andrew Kamenetzky of the LA Times Lakers.
ASSISTANCE REQUIRED
Before he started lighting it up from deep, Fish led off the game by creating for his teammates.
He dished twice to Trevor Ariza, once on a cut through for a layup and once after drawing the defense in to the lane on a dribble penetration, only to pass back out to a wide-open Ariza for three.
On the next possession, D-Fish passed inside to Gasol, who put a ridiculous spin move on Carlos Boozer to glide the basket for a slam.
Of his five assists, Derek helped Gasol and Ariza twice each and Kobe Bryant once. The five assists were the most No. 2 has dished since a March 24 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
ALWAYS A DEEP THREAT
When he wasn’t creating for his teammates on Tuesday night, D-Fish was knocking down some clutch long-range bombs.
He knocked down his first triple of the game in the midst of an offensive explosion by the Lakers in the first. After assisting on three shots early, No. 2 got into the act himself, five minutes in, when he pumped and shot a high-arching rainbow that seemed like it might graze the rafters before putting three more Lakers points on the board. Derek’s threes were part of an eight-minute, 20-second stretch during which the Lakers hit all 12 shots they took.
HUSTLER BY NATURE
One thing D-Fish can never be accused of is giving less than 100 percent on every play in every game. He showed this underrated quality on multiple occasions on Tuesday night, gaining him acclaim by Janis Carr of the OC Register:
Derek Fisher played like someone 10 years younger Tuesday, diving into seats to save loose balls, chasing guys around the court and scoring 11 points, hitting 3 of 6 3-pointers.
Fisher, 34, entered the playoffs shooting 42.7 percent from the arc for his career, his highest 3-point field goal average of anyone who has attempted at least 300 3-pointers. The 13-year veteran ranks second among the Lakers’ all-time playoff leaders at 43.1 percent. Eddie Jones is first at 43.2 percent.
35 POINTS FOR DERON WILLIAMS BUT…
The stat sheet will show that Deron Williams was the game’s leading scorer and feasted on the Lakers defense, but after Williams made a jump shot with 5:24 to go that cut the LA lead to eight, he was held scoreless for the rest of the game.
And it’s no coincidence that after resting most of the final quarter, D-Fish checked back into the game with 5:13 to go. When he returned, Derek clung to Williams like a glove when he needed to and kept the young point guard from getting off a makeable shot.
Fish’s lock down defense, switching off between Williams and Carlos Boozer with Pau Gasol, helped the Lakers secure the victory, as noted on the Silver Screen and Roll blog:
At the end of the game though, when the Jazz went almost exclusively to isolation plays for WIlliams and more often, the pick and roll with Boozer, Fisher, with help from Gasol, played fantastic defense. Gasol used his length on the hedge to keep WIlliams from turning the corner and he bought time for Fish to get back into position. Meanwhile, Fish tied up Boozer on the screen so Boozer couldn’t slip the screen. When you want to watch exactly how to defend the pick and roll, check out the job the Lakers did at the end of Game 2.
LET YOUR FLAG WAVE
Another win for the Lakers and the flags are multiplying, as showcased by kareemabduladam at Lakers Blog Lake Show Life:
“Just got my Lakers flag in the mail and put it up on my ride. I know I live in Spurs country — so what? I got your back, Derek Fisher. You called for it and Lakers fans are answering the call!”
Adam shows off the flag here.
NEXT UP
The Lakers and the Jazz meet again Thursday night in Game 3 of this best of seven series. Tip-off from Utah is scheduled for 7:30 PST and all the action can be seen live on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Jazz at Lakers Box Score (NBA.com, April 21, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090421/UTALAL/boxscore.html
Road to the top can be bumpy one for Lakers (LA Times, April 22, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-heisler-lakers22-2009apr22,0,3542425.column?track=rss
Lakers have to hold on again (LA Times, April 22, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-heisler-lakers22-2009apr22,0,3542425.column?track=rss
Lakers 119, Jazz 109: Punches taken and handled (LA Times Lakers Blog, April 22, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/04/lakers-119-jazz-109.html
Bynum is finding his playoff legs (OC Register, April 22, 2009)
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/strong-lakers-game-2371476-bynum-percent
Game 2: The good, the bad and the ugly (Silver Screen and Roll, April 22, 2009)
http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2009/4/22/848413/lakers-vs-jazz-game-2-the-good-the
Gotsta throw up a Lakers flag (Lake Show Life, April 21, 2009)
http://lakeshowlife.com/2009/04/21/gotsta-throw-up-a-lakers-flag/