With four wins down and 12 more to go, Fish and the Lakers continue their pursuit of the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophy tonight when they host the Houston Rockets in game one of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.
The Lakers and Rockets have met four times this season and each time, LA came away with a victory:
- Game 1: 11/9/08 in LA, Lakers 111, Rockets 82
- Game 2: 1/13/09 in Houston, Lakers 105, Rockets 100
- Game 3: 3/11/09 in Houston, Lakers 102, Rockets 96
- Game 4: 4/3/09 in LA, Lakers 93, Rockets 81
Individually, Derek has averaged 9.3 points and 1.8 steals per game against Houston this year.
 Derek slipping the ball past two Rockets, Apr. 3, 2009 (Getty Images). |
He had his best games against the Rockets after Houston traded point guard Rafer Alston to Orlando. In two games against new point guard Aaron Brooks, D-Fish has six steals and 23 points. He’ll match up with Brooks and backup Kyle Lowry all series.
Various outlets are giving the edge to the Lakers in the point guard battle, pointing to both Derek’s experience and size.
Lakers.com Preview:
“Fisher should be given credit for playing smart, prevent defense on the oft-unguardable Deron Williams, but will face a tough task once again due to Brooks’ speed. At the same time, the smallish Brooks (6-0) will have a tough time keeping Fisher from getting his jump shot off…
Advantage: Lakers – This one was almost a push, but Brooks was largely ineffective offensively against the Lakers in his two regular season starts (averaging only eight points on 5-of-14 shooting), and should be taken advantage of on defense by the wily Fisher.”
The LA Daily News:
“The Rockets showed a ton of confidence in the former Oregon star when they traded away Rafer Alston midway through this season to clear playing time for Brooks and Kyle Lowry. So far they’ve been rewarded, most of the time. Since becoming a starter, Brooks has averaged 13.0 points and 3.7 assists. Like most young players, Brooks is still inconsistent. In Game 4 against Portland, Brooks scored just five points on 1-for-5 shooting. The next game he was 6 for 20 from the field. But in Games 1 and 2 he was on fire, scoring 50 points on 19-of-29 shooting (66 percent). Fisher’s stats are fairly similar to Brooks’, but he has a huge edge in experience and consistency. Edge: Lakers”
Hoops World:
“It’s the young kid vs. the salty veteran. Fisher doesn’t play the traditional point guard role with the Lakers and is hardly the focus of their offense but he has many, many years of postseason experience. Brooks is coming off a tremendous series against the Portland Trail Blazers. He averaged 15.3 points a night on 44.7% shooting along with 4.3 assists. More importantly, Brooks shot 13-29 from behind the arc (44.8%) providing the Rockets with an absolutely necessary outside threat.
Against the Utah Jazz, Fisher’s numbers are lower at 9.4 points on 43.8% shooting (including 31.3% from the arc) plus 3.0 assists a game. Where Derek truly helped the Lakers was in helping to keeping Utah’s star point guard on an earthy plane (relatively speaking) with 20.2 points a night on 41.4% shooting (36.0% from three) with 10.8 assists and 4.2 turnovers. Clearly Williams got the better of the matchup but he didn’t dominate the series enough to truly threaten the Lakers….Advantage: Lakers (for Houston to truly compete, Brooks needs to make this a Rocket advantage).”
Pro Basketball News:
“Lakers G Derek Fisher will use all of his guile and toughness to bait inexperienced Rockets PGs Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry into mistakes. It remains to be seen if he can stay in front of Brooks, who was a bit trigger-happy vs. Portland.”
Scouts Inc. lends their expert analysis with the following read on Fish vs. Brooks:
“Fisher did what he needed to do in Round 1, other than an uncharacteristic five turnovers in Game 2. Only had one other turnover in the entire series. Made just 5 of 16 3-point attempts though, something he’ll have to do a better job of against Houston. His defense against Brooks is something to key on if Brooks is shooting well.”
FoxSports.com’s Charley Rosen:
“How many open shots will Derek Fisher have as Aaron Brooks gets spun around trying to find his way through the triangle? And how many charges will Fisher draw against the overly-frenetic Brooks?”
At ESPN.com, NBA experts have the Lakers winning the series.
REMEMBER THE BOSTON MASSACRE
Despite the Lakers status as overwhelming favorite, Fish cautions his teammates on buying into the hype. And he points to last season to prove his point, as quoted in the LA Times:
“The way things ended last season puts us in the same boat of not wanting our season to end when we’ve lost our last game,” Fisher said. “Even if there are moments of complacency where it appears that there’s not a sense of urgency, we believe strongly and collectively that that’s not the case.”
The Lakers 2007-2008 season ended in a 39-point loss to the Boston Celtics and they’re hoping for much better returns when the 2008-2009 season comes to a close.
But first they’ll have to get through a tough Rockets team in a series that promises to leave both teams battered and bruised, as quoted in the OC Register:
“It will be physical,” Fisher promised. “I think we understand each playoff series has a personality of its own.”
Fish also has cautioned his teammates, once again, on getting too comfortable with any lead, as quoted in the Press-Enterprise:
“Regardless of being up 20 or down 20, I think it’s important to send the message that there is no guarantee,” Fisher said. “We’ve lost that in several games, and that’s not something that’s going to continue to be acceptable. We’ll remedy that this week. And I’ll stand by what I said a couple days ago: It won’t happen again.”
WHERE AND WHEN
The Lakers and Rockets open their best-of seven series tonight at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PST and all the action can be seen live on TNT.
The schedule for the rest of the series is:
- Game 2: Wednesday, May 6, Staples Center in LA, 7:30 p.m. PST on TNT
- Game 3: Friday, May 8, Toyota Center in Houston, 6:30 p.m. PST on ESPN
- Game 4: Sunday, May 10, Toyota Center, 12:30 p.m. PST on ABC
- Game 5*: Tuesday, May 12, Staples Center, TBD* on TNT
- Game 6*: Thursday, May 14, Toyota Center, TBD* on ESPN
- Game 7*: Sunday, May 17, Staples Center, TBD* on TBD*
At the LA Times Lakers Blog, Brian Kamenetzky looks back at previous Rockets vs, Lakers playoff matchups. In their last six playoff meetings dating back to 1986, the Lakers have won four of the six series’ and each of the six series’ has been lopsided:
“I don’t think this series will end the string of lopsided meetings between the two teams. LA is both more talented and a horrible matchup for the Rockets (there’s a reason the Lakers won all four meetings in the regular season), but it could be interesting. What I’m really curious about, though, is whether anything will happen in the series that might elevate the Rockets higher on the rivalry ladder heading into next year.”
RELATED STORIES
It’s Houston: Let the countdown begin (LA Times Lakers Blog, April 30, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/04/los-angeles-lakers-vs-houston-rockets-nba-playoffs-.html
Lakers-Rockets Playoff Preview (Lakers.com, May 2, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/09playoff_preview_b.html?rss=true
Lakers-Rockets Series Matchups (LA Daily News, May 2, 2009)
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_12283457?source=rss
Fun loving Artest, Rockets put up goals against LA (Pro Basketball News, May 1, 2009)
http://probasketballnews.com/story/?storyid=408
Scouting Breakdown: Houston Rockets vs. LA Lakers (ESPN.com/Scouts Inc., May 2, 2009)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/columns/story?page=ScoutingRocketsLakers
Lakers, Nuggets should win west semifinals (Foxsports.com, May 2, 2009)
http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2009/5/1/861877/lakers-vs-rockets-round-2-schedule
Playoff Preview: Rockets vs. Lakers (Hoops World, May 3, 2009)
http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=12493
Lakers vs. Rockets schedule (Silver Screen and Roll, May 1, 2009)
http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2009/5/1/861877/lakers-vs-rockets-round-2-schedule
Lakers vs. Rockets, Tabula Rasa (LA Times Lakers Blog, May 1, 2009)
http://www.pe.com/sports/breakout/stories/PE_Sports_Local_S_web_only_lakers_01.38fdae5.html
Lakers expect to be sore against Houston (The OC Register, May 3, 2009)
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-series-one-2389959-bynum-rondo
Lakers say they’ve gotten over ‘easy,’ (LA Times, May 4, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-rockets4-2009may04,0,1535020.story?track=rss