After nearly a week of waiting, and in some ways, almost a year, the NBA Finals — finally — begin tonight.
Derek Fisher and the Los Angeles Lakers make their second straight Finals appearance tonight and host the Orlando Magic at the Staples Center, with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. PST.
This week has been a special one for LA, as the Staples Center and surrounding areas were decorated to celebrate the Lakers’ 30th trip to the Finals.
 Derek speaking with the media on Wednesday (Getty Images). |
But D-Fish is ready to get down to business, as quoted by the Kamenetzky brothers at the LA Times Lakers Blog:
“Whenever you have a practice or shootaround, the media numbers are much larger, you see the Finals banners and the gold trophy on the back of the stanchion on the basket, it’s just a great time of year. All we need here in L.A. is for the weather to cooperate and things would be a lot better. It would remind me of the old days. But six o’ clock tomorrow night is all I’m looking forward to.”
NOT HIS FIRST RODEO
While many of Orlando’s players will be taking in The NBA Finals for the first time, that won’t be the case for Fish and the Lakers.
Derek will be making his sixth NBA Finals appearance. He currently sports a 3-2 record in his previous five finals, all with the Lakers. When he takes the floor on Thursday night, he’ll be playing in his 27th finals game.
No. 2 has logged 696 career NBA Finals minutes over 26 games. He has recorded 233 points, for an average of nine points per game.
In his finals experience, Fish has shot 42 percent from the field, but has been even better from beyond the arc, draining 45 percent of his threes.
Derek had his best Finals in 2001 when the Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in five games. He shot a remarkable 53 percent from long range in the series, including a coming out party in game five, during which he scored 18 points on 6-8 shooting from three-point range to give LA their second of three consecutive NBA titles.
Adding to his impressive NBA Finals resume, D-Fish has 76 assists in his 26 Finals games as well as 50 rebounds and 30 steals. He has recorded at least one assist in every one of his finals games.
FRIENDS AND TEAMMATES
D-Fish isn’t alone in his pursuit of his fourth championship ring in his sixth trip to the Finals. Derek and Kobe Bryant came into the league together in the 1996-1997 season and have been side-by-side for all six of their NBA Finals appearances.
Though the cast around them has changed since their three-peat from 2000-2002 and D-Fish recently ventured to Golden State and then Utah, before returning to the Lakers in 2007, the two remain great friends, teammates and share a mutual admiration for each other.
Derek was asked this week what has changed about Kobe in the last several years, as quoted by the Associated Press:
“He’s continued to recognize that in order for him to accomplish some of his individual goals, the team goals have to match or exceed his own goals,” Fisher said. “That means other guys around him have to perform at a high level. Things he can share with them, he knows how important that is, and how well we take it when he does. He’s done a great job at it the last couple of years.
“He’s just gotten more comfortable with where he is in terms of what he’s capable of doing on the floor and knows he can always come back to that.”
Though much of the talk this week has been about Bryant’s quest for another title, D-Fish is just as hungry and just as committed to doing whatever it takes to win now, as noted and quoted by Arash Markazi of SportsIllustrated.com:
“When Fisher looks up at the championship trophies visible from the Lakers’ practice court, he is reminded how elusive winning one can be. While those three earlier titles seemingly came so easy, the ultimate prize has eluded Fisher time after time, as he’s gotten older.
“It seems like an eternity ago,” Fisher said of his last championship. “I’ve lived a lifetime since then and what I’ve been through since 2004, to not win it last year, I can’t really explain the pain and frustration that comes with that and not knowing if it’s ever going to happen again. I can’t allow it to pass me by again.”
TEAMMATES SHOW FISH SOME LOVE
In Markazi’s piece for SI.com, he writes about D-Fish and how the stat sheet doesn’t speak the truth when it comes to No. 2’s contributions to the Lakers since his return last season:
“Far too often in sports we’re so immersed in the numbers that we really can’t see what is going on in front of our eyes. We’re so tuned in on percentages that we can’t hear what’s going on around us, so consumed with pluses and minuses and shooting charts that we can’t feel the true presence of a player statistics tell us is a “liability.”
Pick up a stat sheet after a Lakers playoff game and it would be easy to single out Derek Fisher for criticism. In the twilight of a 13-year career, Fisher is clearly a player who has lost a step on defense and his touch on offense (35.6 percent from the field and 23.5 percent from three-point range in the playoffs).
Yet, the numbers don’t tell the story of his true significance to his team. They never have.”
Markazi quotes Derek’s other Lakers teammates on his presence and what it means to the team:
“Fisher’s the rock of this team,” Lakers forward Luke Walton said. “Basketball has a lot of emotions and ups and downs, and there is a lot that happens on and off the court that the average fan doesn’t see, but ever since they brought Fish back, he instantly made us a better team. Just his presence made us better. Just having him on the team and on the court is a bonus.”
“It’s no coincidence that he’s made every team he’s been on better,” Lakers forward Lamar Odom said. “He’s our captain. His leadership qualities are incredible. He’s been a champion before and he knows how to win. Derek is a man we look up to on and off the court.”
Markazi also writes about the changes Fish has gone through in his life, the impact his leadership has had on the Lakers and Derek’s true significance to the team.
SOME MAGIC OF HIS OWN
Of the 82 games the Lakers played this season, it’s a happy coincidence that No. 2’s best game came against the team the Lakers will grind it out against for the NBA title.
On December 20, 2008, D-Fish went for 27 points on 9-16 shooting, pulled down five boards and dished out four assists, doing everything he could in LA’s 106-103 loss in Orlando. He set season highs in field goals made and points that night.
Derek also scored nine points in Orlando’s trip to Staples, giving him an 18 points per game average against the Magic.
In those games D-Fish matched up against Jameer Nelson, who is now recovering from shoulder surgery but may see some minutes in the series. More likely though, Fish will play a majority of his minutes across from Rafer Alston, a player he is very familiar with from Alston’s days in Houston.
PRESIDENTIAL PICK AND THE X-FACTOR
As expected, the team with more experience, the Lakers is the pick of most experts and the President of the United States but the breakdown, from Sports Illustrated, has D-Fish as the X-Factor:
“X-factor: Fisher. The veteran point guard has struggled with his shot during most of the postseason, and he could find himself open if the Magic have to help on Bryant. That’s what happened in the first meeting, and Fisher responded with 27 points, his best game of the season. He managed only nine on 3-of-11 shooting in the game at Los Angeles.
Prediction: Lakers in six.”
The Lakers and Magic tip-off at 6 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen live on ABC.
RELATED STORIES
Derek Fisher’s value to the Lakers transcends statistics (SI.com, June 2, 2009)
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/arash_markazi/06/02/derek.fisher/?eref=sircrc
Bryant facing prospect of seeing Superman again (Associated Press, June 2, 2009)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHxubhZs7sH2T8vY3kqrQwdCboEwD98I6MH00
Predictor in chief, Lakers in six (USA Today, June 2, 2009)
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/06/67565387/1
Lakers-Magic Finals Preview (Lakers.com, June 1, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/09playoff_preview_d.html?rss=true
Why the Lakers will win (Forum Blue and Gold, May 31, 2009)
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2009/05/31/why-the-lakers-will-win/
Capsule preview of the Lakers-Magic NBA Finals (SI.com, May 31, 2009)
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/wires/05/31/2030.ap.bkn.nba.finals.capsule.0663/
Lamar Odom, Josh Powell, D-Fish and a pair of magicians (LA Times Lakers Blog, June 4, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/06/lamar-odom-josh-powell-trevor-ariza-rafer-alston-and-a-whole-lot-more.html