With two games in the bag and two to go for their championship dreams to become reality, Derek Fisher and his Los Angeles Lakers teammates aren’t resting on their laurels.
As Fish told the LA Times, the series is far from over:
“We’re not going to take a step back and feel like we’ve accomplished anything at this point,” Fisher said. “We know how easily things can swing. If Orlando wins on Tuesday, it’s a different series. So both teams are going to come out and play Tuesday’s game as though everything is on the line, which it is. I think it’s going to be a great basketball game Tuesday night.”
The series shifts to Orlando tonight for Game Three, with the Lakers in the catbird seat, looking to seize their opportunity to take an overwhelming 3-0 lead over the Orlando Magic in the NBA Finals.
LITTLE THINGS GIVE FISH A BIG EDGE
In a column for the OC Register, Kevin Ding looks at the little things that D-Fish has been doing in this series to prepare and perform at a championship level.
Derek Fisher walked out of Staples Center on Sunday night not only with a 2-0 NBA Finals lead in hand. Fisher was carrying his cell phone and Pat Riley’s book, “The Winner Within.”
Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy worked for Riley in Miami for 10 years, most of that time as Riley’s right-hand man, and you never know what little edge or added understanding you might be able to pick up. Fisher did also have the for-sure relevant info – the Orlando scouting report given Fisher by his current Lakers coaches – folded neatly inside Riley’s 1993 book.
But there is not another Lakers player you could imagine doing this sort of additional reading in such committed search for some slight strategic or leadership advantage. There is probably not another player in the entire NBA who would do it.
But it’s not just Derek’s thirst for knowledge that impresses. It’s his leadership ability, as evidenced by Fish’s motivational speeches to his teammates throughout these playoffs, as noted in a quote Ding cited from Andrew Bynum:
“Fish is a great motivational speaker,” Andrew Bynum said after the clincher in Denver. Asked about Bryant’s voice that night, Bynum said: “Kobe was in there, too, but Fish was the loudest.”
And it’s also the impact that his speeches his voice and his knowledge have on his teammates:
While Fisher walked out of the locker room with his extra reading material, something else interesting stayed behind. Right next to Fisher’s locker is Gasol’s, and in there was a big box of Accel Gel, the carbohydrate protein formula designed to improve endurance and energy. Gasol certainly seems to have improved endurance and energy, doesn’t he?
The gel is something Fisher personally introduced to the team.
Again, you never know with these little things. Maybe one of them will win you a championship.
With many members of the team having never grasped the Larry O’ Brien trophy or worn a championship ring, the Lakers look to their three-time champions, D-Fish and Kobe Bryant, for leadership and guidance, as noted by reserve point guard Shannon Brown:
“(Derek Fisher) and Kobe (Bryant), guys that have rings keep telling us, ‘If you want to be a championship team, this is what you’ve got to do."
’”It’s playoff time, this is when champions are made. This is where you’ve got to grind it out if you want to be a champion.’”
KOBE IS NO JACK
As the Lakers focus on their run at a 15th championship in franchise history, the team appears to be getting meaner, no one more so than Bryant, who spent game one baring his teeth for the world to see after making big baskets.
“This is the first year it’s been prominent, extremely noticeable,’ D-Fish said of Kobe’s dental display, as quoted by Sports Illustrated.”
But when asked to compare Kobe’s snarl to that of the most famous Lakers fan on the planet, Jack Nicholson, in the film, The Shining, Derek said that Jack’s scowl was far more chilling.
“I don’t know if anything can compare to that one,’’ Fisher said. “Even for me as a kid that was a pretty scary moment.’‘
FINALS ARE ALSO A TIME TO GIVE BACK
Though there was no denying what the Lakers were focused on the day after their game one victory, that didn’t stop several of the players, Fish included from taking time out to help introduce something else truly meaningful, as noted in the LA Wave:
The Los Angeles Lakers unveiled their 14th Reading & Learning Center Friday at the Salesian Boys and Girls Club, with three players participating in the ceremony, a day after their victory in Game 1 of the NBA finals.
Derek Fisher, Sasha Vujacic and Sun Yue were greeted by loud applause and cheers by the young club members. Former Laker stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Robert Horry and NBA Commissioner David Stern also attended the ceremony.
Fisher recalled that he played his first organized basketball game at a Boys and Girls Club in his native Little Rock, Ark., while the teachers and coaches at the club helped teach him “what it meant to be a good person.”
Fisher said the most important lesson he learned was “that I had to respect my teammates, I had to respect my coaches, I had to respect the people who worked at the Boys and Girls Club.”
“That’s what we have to remember as we go forward,” Fisher said.”
GAME TIME
Game Three of the NBA Finals tips off this evening at 6 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen live on ESPN.
RELATED STORIES
Lakers’ Fisher comes up with little big things (OC Register, June 8, 2009)
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/fisher-lakers-game-2450795-team-orlando
Derek Fisher extends himself as a Lakers leader (LA Times, June 9, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-spw-lakers-fisher9-2009jun09,0,5195847.story?track=rss
For Lakers and Magic, a little means a lot in this series (LA Daily News, June 9, 2009)
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_12549769?source=rss
Teeth baring Kobe Bryant is defiant one (SI.com, June 5, 2009)
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/wires/06/05/2030.ap.bkn.nba.finals.lakers.0691/
New Lakers reading and learning center (LA Wave, June 6, 2009)
http://www.wavenewspapers.com/sports/47116637.html