After several games where he was having trouble finding the rim, Derek Fisher found his shot on Thursday night, and his performance helped the Lakers to an easy 108-93 win.
D-Fish had his first perfect shooting night of the season, going 5-5 from the floor and scoring a season-high 12 points in the Lakers’ runaway win over the Chicago Bulls. Fish was one of six Lakers who scored in double digits and added two assists, a pair of boards and a steal.
 Derek went a perfect 5-of-5 on Thursday night, and was all smiles (Getty Images). |
Derek was also 2-2 from behind the arc. His first triple put the Lakers up ten. His second, in the third quarter, put the Lakers up 20 and put the game out of reach.
The Kamenetzky Brothers, of the Los Angeles Times were especially impressed with Fish’s performance.
"Knowing Fish’s history, you figured a hot night was lurking at some point soon. "Some point" turned out to be this evening. 5-5 from the field for a dozen points, with a pair of treys buried for good measure. Particularly highlight reel-worthy was a sequence where he buried a triple, stripped
[Joakim Noah] on the ensuing possession, then took the rock in for a layup. Chicago called timeout with the Lakers up a dozen. The atmosphere got no more hospitable for the guests.By the way, another stat you may not be aware of: Fisher has NEVER missed a shot in a regular season game where Gasol and Artest play together."
STEAL AND SCORE
Derek Fisher’s always been adept at swiping the rock, and his theft of Joakim Noah toward the end of the second quarter was a beauty.Almost immediately as Noah picked up his dribble, Fisher was there, slapping the ball out, taking it all the way down court and finishing. You can watch it here at the 55-second mark.
POKING FUN AT PAU
Before last night’s game, Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register asked Fish about having Pau Gasol back. Fisher took the opportunity to make a little joke."Even politically correct Derek Fisher took a little poke at Gasol on Monday. Fisher put forth the idea that the Lakers should give Gasol the ball on every possession when he comes back as a means for making up missed labor.
"Some of us feel like, ‘Let him catch up to the rest of us,’ " Fisher said, smiling.
Fisher is a maniacal fitness buff, same as Bryant, so that comment is rooted in that. Gasol, you might have heard, didn’t even lift weights (despite everyone in Memphis from Jerry West to Elvis telling him to) until seven years into his NBA career."
THE BUSINESS OF BASKETBALL
While Derek has been instrumental in helping the Lakers win four NBA championships, he’s also focused on helping every player in the league in his role as President of the NBA Players Association.In an interview with the New York Times, Fish discussed the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, which expires in 2011:
"Right now I can’t say there’s really anything heavy that’s happened," Fisher told the paper. "There hasn’t been a negotiation that’s taken place. It’s been more an opening of the conversation, exchanging information, and setting the table for negotiation."
Still, Fisher said he considered the mere fact that they started so early to be progress.
"As far as we’re concerned, it’s a big positive that we’ve even started the conversation, and that we’re not going to wait until the 11th or 12th hour. "
Although the possibility of a lockout exists, Fish said that whatever happens, the players under his watch will be prepared.
“I think guys are fairly aware of what’s going on in our country and around the world. And I think everybody’s smart enough to know—even though they were probably 10 years old when the lockout happened in ‘99—that would be bad for our business.”
WEEK IN REVIEW
Derek Fisher had a roller coaster week. Fish went 0-3 from the floor in a win against Detroit and three nights later, hit every shot he took in the Lakers victory over the Bulls. Most importantly, the Lakers won both games to snap a skid after dropping two straight over the weekend.NEXT UP
The Lakers face the Oklahoma City Thunder again on Sunday. Los Angeles won the first meeting in overtime. Tip-off from the Staples Center is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. PST and all the action can be seen regionally on FS West.
RELATED ARTICLES
Lakers 108, Bulls 93: Pau Gasol screams Hola (L.A. Times, Nov. 20, 2009)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2009/11/lakers-defeat-bulls-kobe-bryant.html
Lakers Gameday 11/19/09 (NBA.com, Nov. 19, 2009)
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/091119_gameday_bulls.html?rss=true
Lakers about to put Pau in the lineup (OC Register, Nov 18, 2009)
http://www.ocregister.com/sports/bryant-219997-gasol-game.html
Setting the Table for Negotations (New York Times, Nov. 18, 2009)
http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/setting-the-table-for-next-round-of-labor-negotiations/