Eight down, eight to go, for Derek Fisher and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles inched one big step closer to their NBA Championship goal and in the process pushed Fish’s Game 7 record to a perfect 4-0, with an 89-70 victory that was never in doubt on Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center.
“Things happen. This is sports,” D-Fish said from his locker after the win. “If sports were scripted, none of you guys would be here, because you would already know what was going to happen before you showed up. The fans that watch the game, wouldn’t watch the game.”
“The key is just to go out and play and concentrate on what’s happening, right now, in this moment. I think obviously in the games that we’ve won, we did a better job of that.”
Fish scored six points, highlighted by back-to-back buckets in the first quarter as LA surged out to an early lead.
The Lakers already had a 13-4 when Derek handled a Kobe Bryant pass and knocked down a contested jumper, paying no mind to the hand in his face.
After a Houston miss on the other end, Andrew Bynum grabbed a board, which he filtered to Bryant, who found Fish, wide-open this time, in transition, to knock down a pull-up and push the lead to 17-4 with just over eight minutes gone-by in the first quarter.
The two straight buckets for Derek, supported a statement made by Phil Jackson in response to questions about Fish’s playing time heading into Gme 7, as quoted by the LA Times:
“
[Fisher] says he’s ready to play and he’s got his shot back,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “We count on him. We believe in him.”Believe in Derek they did, and deliver he did, draining two jumpers in 30 seconds to help the Lakers quickly put away doubt about their chances of moving on, as noted by Doug Krikorian of the Long Beach Press-Telgram:
“When Derek Fisher drilled his second basket with just under four minutes remaining in the first period Sunday to give the Lakers a 17-4 lead in Game 7 against the Houston Rockets, you had the distinct feeling that the hometown heroes were destined to have their jittery loyalists depart Staples Center later in the afternoon in an euphoric state.”
Fish went on two score his only other points from the free throw early in the third. He finished 2-5 from the field and also had an assist, a rebound and a steal.
DESPERATE MEASURES NEED NOT APPLY
No. 2 was asked after the game if he felt the team was “playing desperate,” a notion he quickly shrugged off:“I don’t think you can play desperate,” Fish replied. “You’re not thinking clearly if you’re desperate.”
Fish then threw out three adjectives he felt better described LA’s Sunday Best: Aggressive, assertive and focused.
“Having a clear understanding of what you’re trying to do to do,” he noted. “You’re more efficient in your movements, you’re quicker to where you need to be because you’re thinking clearly. To me, that is the difference when we’ve been able to defend the way we’re able to defend. We were clear in mind of what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to accomplish and we were able to hold to it for much longer than we were in other games.”
The Lakers had much better luck defending in game seven then they did in game six, and, in the process, held pesky Rockets point guard Aaron Brooks to just 13 points on 4-13 from the field. As a whole, the Lakers defense held Houston to a season-low 70 points.
POSTSEASON IS NEVER MADE TO ORDER
In a pre-game-seven column for the Washington Post, Michael Wilbon passed along a conversation he had with D-Fish after game five about the target on LA’s back and how they’ve handled it:“We’re still learning how to play in the postseason at a really high level,” Fish said. “We’re the more popular and easier target…We have the personalities, the individuals people recognize and pay attention to. . . The expectation that you’re supposed to discard an opponent because you’re better than them on paper. I don’t live in that world.”
Fish also shared his thoughts on the misconception that the Lakers have letdown too much this postseason to be a championship contender:
“Yes, there’s a certain way you envision that you need to play to win a championship,” Fisher said. “But it’s totally impossible to stay at that level for all 200 days of the season, each and every one. You can’t just bottle it up and carry it around with you. There are too many variables to presume you can do that.”
NEXT UP
The Lakers will look to carry the bottle into to game one of the Western Conference Finals, which begin Tuesday night at the Staples Center. LA plays host to the Denver Nuggets in what is sure to be another physical series. Coverage of the Western Conference Finals is exclusive to TNT and all the game-one action can be seen live starting at 6 p.m. PST.For a full series preview, check DerekFisher2.com before game one tips off on Tuesday night.
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