With their first win of the season under their belt, Derek Fisher and the Los Angeles Lakers will take on the Dallas Mavericks tonight at the Staples Center.
Last season, the Lakers and No. 2 were undefeated against Dallas, winning the season series, 3-0. Derek was his usual solid self, averaging 10.3 points and 3.3 assists.
 Fish driving against Jason Terry last spring (Getty Images). |
Derek actually had some of his best games against the Mavericks last year. In their Nov 28th match up, D-Fish scored 19 points, one off his season high from last year. And on March 15th, he dished out six assists, also one off his season high.
Tonight, D-Fish will duel with fellow veteran point guard, Jason Kidd.
REAL LEADERSHIP
Tonight’s game will be Lakers’ newcomer Ron Artest’s first game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Mavs’ owner Mark Cuban had some inflammatory things to say about Artest coming to the Lakers, hoping that the signing of the volatile forward might cause the Lakers to implode.
However, in an interview with the Press Enterprise, Lakers head coach Phil Jackson cited the leadership on his team, specifically the leadership of Derek as reasons the move would pan out just fine.
“Knowing character I think is one of the challenges of being in personnel, and you have to weigh that with the mental strength of your team, how many young guys you have and how many guys are new,” Jackson said. “We don’t have many new guys or young guys, and we’ve got good leadership. All three of those things help.”
WHAT’S KOBE WITHOUT FISH?
While Kobe got the monkey off his back by winning a title without Shaq, a tongue-in-cheek piece blog post from Andrew Kamenetzky of the L.A. Times suggests the real task will be for Kobe to win one without Fish.
“The weight of Shaq is finally off Kobe’s baq, but in the meantime, he’s never won a title without the lil’ fella. Hell, Kobe’s never even reached the Finals without Fisher in tow. Technically speaking, for Kobe to truly reside on “Did it without ____” Street, he needs a ring absent of Fisher’s help.
“On the surface, that may appear a question of patiently waiting out Fisher’s impending 2010 free agency. Except I’m of the opinion- and this is a gut feeling, as opposed to one based on “sources”- that Fisher will become the next decade’s B
[rian] Shaw, working on a series of short, reasonable contracts for as long as he’s capable of productive role play.“Good for the Lakers and the locker room. Bad for Kobe when it comes to this specific mission.”
Derek’s fans know, he and Kobe have a great friendship on and off the court.
The staff here at DerekFisher2.com chronicled the unbreakable friendship between LA’s backcourt duo at the end of last season.
NEXT UP
The undefeated Lakers host the Dallas Mavericks tonight at the Staples Center at 7:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN.RELATED ARTICLES
Walton says Lakers bench reliable (The Press Enterprise, Oct. 29, 2009)
http://www.pe.com/sports/breakout/stories/PE_Sports_Local_S_lakers_notes_30.3bf726d.html
Lakers reserves are aware there’s room for improvement (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 30, 2009)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-fyi30-2009oct30,0,1843008.story
What Kobe still has left to prove (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 28, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/10/kobe-bryant-prove.html
Lakers’ bench mob a non factor (Daily News, Oct. 30, 2009)
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_13674287?source=rss
Since the beginning: Derek and Kobe (DerekFisher2.com, June 15, 2009)
http://www.derekfisher2.com/news/beginning-derek-and-kobe/2009/06/15