The ball was in the hands of Derek Fisher at the end of the game on Thursday night, but a tough look, little time and a big hand in his face were too much to overcome.
Fish scored three points, but they didn’t come on the final shot, and the Denver Nuggets knotted the Western Conference Finals at one with a 106-103 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night at Staples Center.
After the game, Derek, who also had three assists, assessed the final play, as quoted on Lakers.com:
“I had a pretty good look at it. I figured they were going to try to foul to prevent us from shooting a three. I think I got rid of it a little quicker than I probably had to. Definitely don’t want to put yourself in a position where you need that kind of shot to try and tie the game.”
The ball came No. 2’s way off the inbound with less than four seconds to go in the game and the Lakers believing Denver would try to foul before they could get a three pointer off.
Fish stood in the corner and loaded up quickly, but as he tried to get the shot up, six-foot-eleven Nuggets center Nene Hilario rushed to the perimeter and contested the shot, even appearing to get a fingertip on it to alter the path, as noted by Jeff Miller of the OC Register:
“Yet, the Lakers still had a chance to tie on their final possession. Down by three and with 4.3 seconds left, Coach Phil Jackson was certain the Nuggets would foul (Kobe) Bryant immediately.
So he designed a play to go to Derek Fisher for a three-point try in the corner. At the time, Fisher had missed seven of his previous eight shots.
The part of the plan that wasn’t designed was for Denver center Nene to run and leap in Fisher’s face. Some believed Nene tipped the shot, but either way, the 10 inches of height he has on Fisher didn’t help.”
Derek had shown a propensity for hitting a big shot in Game 1 despite struggling early on, when he nailed a first half buzzer beater, but he didn’t have Nene breathing down on him on Tuesday night.
Still Kobe Bryant said D-Fish is a player the Lakers look to in that situation, as quoted by the LA Daily News:
“I always want the ball,” Bryant later said. “I want the ball every play. It doesn’t change down the stretch. He had a good look. Nene made a great play. Got a piece of the ball. We’ve seen Derek make big shots how many times? So, I can live with that.”
ONE THAT GOT AWAY
The Lakers led the game by as many as 14 points in the first half. But Fish noted that the team had a let down toward the end of the half that contributed to Denver’s comeback and eventual win, as quoted on Lakers.com:
“I think that stretch in the second quarter was really key. The game was going along there and we seemed to really be taking control of the game. The energy was definitely in our favor. It seems like Carmelo got going a little bit and it seems like his confidence then kind of spread to the other guys on the team.”
The Lakers got back in the game toward the end, but were unable to retake control, as Fish noted in postgame:
“
[We were] not making some of the same plays we made down the stretch in the first game. In particular, a couple offensive rebounds that the Nuggets were able to get back and some poor execution down the stretch for us. We let it get away.”NEXT UP
The Lakers and the Nuggets head to Denver for game three of the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers will look to once again take control of the now tied series.“This is for an opportunity to win an NBA championship,” D-Fish said in his postgame comments. “Here we are again. It’s not supposed to be easy. There’s no script. You don’t know what’s going to happen until you get there. We’re going to go play and we’re going to play to win on Saturday night.”
As for LA’s confidence, D-Fish said it is where it has always been:
“We don’t have to find it. It hasn’t gone anywhere. We go in there and we play the game to win. Had we won tonight we’d be going in there with the same mentality of, let’s win this third game and try to take control of the series. In terms of our mentality, we’re going to win.
That’s what our focus will be. The key will be, how do we hold ourselves accountable so that we can do the things that are necessary to put ourselves in position to win.”
Game three is set for Saturday night at 5:30 PST from the Pepsi Center in Denver. All the action can be seen live on ABC.
RELATED STORIES
Nuggets at Lakers Box Score (NBA.com, May 21, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/games/20090521/DENLAL/boxscore.html
Lakers quotes: 5/21/09 (Lakers.com, May 21, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/090521_quotes.html
Lakers falter down the stretch (The Denver Post, May 22, 2009)
http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_12426451
Guess what? The Lakers can lose this series (The OC Register, May 22, 2009)
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-nuggets-shot-2424231-three-denver
Lakers lose to Nuggets (The OC Register, May 22, 2009)
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/lakers-bryant-ariza-2424186-points-denver
Lakers lose grip, Denver ties series (LA Daily News, May 22, 2009)
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_12426188?source=rss
A series tied up like Laker Nation’s collective tummy (The LA Times Lakers Blog, May 22, 2009)
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