Derek scored eight points, dished out three assists and grabbed four boards, but the Lakers showed plenty of rust after a week long layoff and couldn’t overcome the Rockets in a 100-92 loss at Staples Center on Monday night.
During practice this past week, D-Fish discussed the pros and cons of a week between games at this time of year:
“We played at a high level for a very long time,” Fisher said. “Advantages are that you get a chance to kind of recharge the battery, to sit back and observe and watch potential opponents…disadvantages are there are certain aspects of your timing and rhythm in terms of playing basketball that in some respects you lose.”
At the same time, Derek mentioned that everything tends to even itself out in the end:
“You keep it up as much as you can, but in my experiences and I think in Phil’s experiences, over time, those things balance out as the series goes on. You don’t win or lose a series in game one.”
The Lakers started flat and had a porous first half defensively. D-Fish himself was just 3-10 from the floor and scored two of his eight points from the free throw line.
STATE OF THE UNION
President of the player’s union, D-Fish will be one of the driving forces this summer in trying to secure a new deal that insures no lockout or strike. In this process, tough decisions will need to be made. Any and every topic is certain to come up, as noted by AOL Fanhouse’s Tom Ziller:
Lakers guard Derek Fisher, the union’s president, suggests a shorter season will be one of several things the players will ask for should the owners push for a different revenue split (it’s currently 57% for the players). Here’s Fisher:
“The way this game has evolved into a global power, each game deserves to be the maximum of what it can be. If you consistently have key players missing games due to injuries and things that can be avoided, I think that’s a fair point to discuss.”
It should be noted, that Derek hasn’t missed a game in his last four seasons, but many superstar players, Lakers center Andrew Bynum being one, miss time every season because of nagging injuries from the grueling 82 game schedule.
NEXT UP
D-Fish and his Lakers teammates will get a chance to even the series at one on Wednesday night when they host the Rockets at 7:30 PST. All the action can be seen live on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Rockets at Lakers Box Score (NBA.com, May 4, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090504/HOULAL/boxscore.html
Lakers Practice Report: 4/29/09 (Lakers.com, April 29, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/090429video.html
Lakers stunned by Rockets’ red glare (LA Daily News, May 5, 2009)
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_12296184?source=rss
Lakers are stopped col by Rockets in game one (LA Times, May 5, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-rockets5-2009may05,0,2321454.story?track=rss
For Lakers, it’s time for that tough question (LA Times, May 5, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-plaschke-lakers5-2009may05,0,2929649.column?track=rss
Union pushing for shorter NBA season (AOL Fanhouse, May 1, 2009)
http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/05/01/will-players-push-for-shorter-nba-season/