Any sports fan with a pulse will not soon forget the events of Thursday night, when Derek’s two clutch triples elevated Fish to legend status.
Thursday night also brought plenty of praise for Derek from fans, bloggers, the media and his teammates:
THE LAKERS
Of all the people criticizing D-Fish for some poor performances and his age, there has always been a group of people in his corner, decked out in purple and gold.
Fish’s teammates and coaches have the utmost confidence in No. 2 and he rewarded them in a big way.
PHIL JACKSON
"He’s persistent," Jackson said. "He’s just a dogged player. He’s not blessed with great speed. He’s a good athlete, but he’s not spectacularly fast. But he has a certain sense about him, knows what’s going on on the floor, can organize a team.
[He’s] not afraid to go away from Kobe when sometimes Kobe is asking for the ball and he knows better, and I need a guard like him to do that."
Kobe and Fish celebrate after winning Game 4 (Getty Images).LAMAR ODOM
"He did it again," Lamar Odom said. "He just did it again. "He’s a legend."
KOBE BRYANT
"That’s Derek," said Bryant, also a 13-year veteran. "He just has supreme confidence."
JORDAN FARMAR
"He’s not afraid of the moment," said Fisher’s young understudy, Jordan Farmar. "He’s done it before. So he knew he had it in him."
ANDREW BYNUM
"He just pulled up, shot it and hit it. That was the end of it. He came down and saved us."
SHANNON BROWN
"Fish has been doing that all season. He’s been doing that his whole career. He has rings already. He told everybody on the bench he wasn’t going to miss anymore and he didn’t."
THE BLOGGERS
The Kamenetzky Brothers at the LA Times Lakers Blog summed it up with the headline to their postgame post: Don’t plan on forgetting where you were when it happened:"The dagger didn’t come off busted chaos, nor did it beat a buzzer. But this shot nonetheless instantly reminded me of Robert Horry’s iconic game-winner against the Sacremento Kings in 2002.
Maybe because of Fisher’s sly grin. Maybe because of the casual backpedaling stride, one fist raised slightly in the air. Or maybe because, like with Big Shot Rob, the spoils went to a victor exceptionally easy to root and feel happy for.
Asked after the game about this display of clutch, Fisher first expressed guilt over his failure to cash in on a few wide open looks kicked out by Pau Gasol After being set up for redemption by Kobe, Fisher thanked Pau for "warming up (his) elbow."
At Silver Screen and Roll, blogger Sideout11 used the forum to apologize for doubting D-Fish and urged fellow Lakers fans to do the same:
"I have a confession to make: I was wrong. I was wrong about Fisher, and I was definitely wrong about Phil Jackson. I know, it’s shocking right? Me not knowing what’s best for the Lakers, who would have thought. Now I know that I was not the only one screaming for more Farmar and UPS, so if anyone else would like to out themselves and publicly apologize, now is the time to do so…"
At Forum Blue and Gold, Kurt talks about Faith in Fish:
"There is the faith in Fisher that, frankly, many of us Laker fans are guilty of having lost. But not Phil Jackson. From that first game before Halloween, we fans begged Derek Fisher to stop taking so many pull up jumpers in transition (PUJITs), but he had faith and hit a huge one with a Finals game on the line. We called for someone else to get his minutes."
Kurt then passed the baton to Zephid who summed up the way many Fish fans are feeling today:
"This game is proof as to why we keep the faith in our players. This game is proof as to why we don’t bury our own guys; we don’t throw our own guys under the bus. Because our faith is rewarded. Everyone under the sun was calling for Phil to bench Fisher and play more Shannon Brown (myself included). Tell me, does anyone honestly believe that anyone outside of Bryant could have made those two shots other than Fisher? Through all his struggles, all the 1-8, 1-7 shooting games, our coaching staff kept the faith in Fisher. Even when he was getting crushed by Deron Williams, Aaron Brooks, Chauncey Billups, and Rafer Alston, the coaching still kept calling his number, sending him in during crunch time, sending him to battle when the games were on the line. And for their faith, they were rewarded with the most crucial victory of the season, delivered to us by one and only Derek Fisher. This is the stuff of legends; the stuff that only becomes more endearing when you’ve lived through his struggles as we all have."
Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar embrace Derek (Getty Images).THE MEDIA
Even the members of the media were left searching for the right words to describe Derek’s performance:JA Adande – ESPN.com
"But the real story of redemption and perseverance belonged to Fisher. He missed his first five 3-point attempts before he hit the one that mattered the most and brought on overtime. It goes further back than that, though. He pushed the final mute button on all the critics who roared for Phil Jackson to bench him during his weaker games of the playoffs, or questioned Jackson’s decision to draw up the final shot for Fisher instead of Bryant at the end of the second game of the Western Conference finals. (He missed; they lost.)"Jay Mariotti – AOL Fanhouse
"When it went in with 4.6 seconds left, well, who in America didn’t feel good for him? Even if you dislike Bryant, Phil Jackson, and the Lakers, as many do, Fisher is the one everyone roots for. And the crazy thing is, he wasn’t done yet. With the game tied at 91 in the extra period, the suddenly energized and productive Trevor Ariza rebounded his own miss and set up another game-winning scenario. Eventually, there was Fisher, open again beyond the stripe.Bryant had the ball and was trying to back down two defenders, but how could he ignore the wide-open warrior? He kicked out the ball to Fisher while landing a firm elbow to Nelson’s chin, something the refs could have called but didn’t. With everything Fisher has been through — his daughter’s illness, leaving the Lakers when he didn’t want to, returning under difficult personal circumstances — did anyone really think he’d miss with 31.3 seconds remaining?"
Jonathan Felgen – FoxSports.com
"Fisher launched with as much confidence and poise as if he were closing out a game of H-O-R-S-E in his driveway. He did not sway with desperate body English, never seemed to pause for a wistful moment as the ball sailed those 26 feet beyond his control. He took it like so many other 3-pointers over the years, then turned and moved on to the next play, as emotionless as a surgeon after the day’s first incision."Ian Thompsen – Sports Illustrated
"Others would have been celebrating the two biggest shots of the postseason’s biggest game. They would have jumping-jacked their way around the floor and looked for someone to hug. But Derek Fisher acted like he’d been in this position before, and it was no act.As the second of his crucial pair of threes was spinning its way magnetically through the rim, the 34-year-old Fisher withdrew without a sound from the scene of his finishing stroke. His left wrist remained extended as if he wanted the moment to last; he backed away like a painter satisfied with the canvas. He looked across the floor to Kobe Bryant with whom he joined the Lakers as rookies 13 years ago, and from whom he received the kick-out pass that Fisher caught and shot for the Lakers’ 94-91 advantage with 31.3 seconds remaining in overtime, and all Fisher did was grin. Kobe and the other Lakers were running toward him Thursday and he answered them with a grandfatherly smile."
THE TWEETERS
His teammates mobbed him after the second shot, the bloggers offered their apologies and the media members tried to describe the surreal.Then there were the thousands of fans that follow Derek on Twitter, sharing their joy and invoking his name in celebration of a feat unlike any other.
Some samples from the more than 1500 that have spilled in since the shots heard round the world
gina_egg: Did you see @derekfisher hittin’ the threes tonight?! Woot!!!! He did Little Rock PROUD!
BocaLakerGurl: @derekfisher Mr. Fisher…that was an awesome game…you showed up big time and we LAKER fans are so grateful…MAGNIFICENT!!!!!
tylerrsv: My god this is why the finals are great. Legends truly shine @derekfisher most certainly came through
nbachick24: @derekfisher OMG Fish you brought the heat tonight! When we need u, u always come through baby!! Lez get ’em Sunday! Go Lakers!!!!!!!
katturner: @derekfisher be still my heart…it was great to watch you make those clutch shots 2nite 🙂
Yoshi109: @derekfisher GREAT GAME FISH! YOU ARE A LAKER LEGEND MAN! LOVE YA! BRING IT HOME!!!
kidgrifter: @derekfisher yeah baby! No matter what happens. Thanks for all the hard work and memories. You will always be a laker!
And then there was D-Fish himself, forever the professional, not satisfied until the job is done, with a simple message for his Twitter nation:
3-1
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