Derek Fisher goes to Washington today, and the Wizards just might be what the somewhat struggling Lakers need in the middle of their road trip.
Washington has lost three straight games, including scoring just 79 points while falling to the Clippers last Sunday.
The Lakers have won five straight against the Wiz. In his most recent game against them, just over a year ago on January 22, 2009, Fish dished out a game-high eight assists and the Lakers exploded for 117 points. For the season series, he averaged 8.5 points and 6.2 assists per game.
 Derek, Kobe and President Obama (Getty Images). |
During the 2007-2008 season, No. 2 scored 17 in a 126-120 win.
DOING HIS DUTY
Heading to D.C., Derek, as the player’s union president, had to answer a few questions about the NBA’s indefinite suspension of Gilbert Arenas.
Speaking with ESPN’s Chris Sheridan, Fish took a pragmatic approach to the situation.
"It’s never happened before, so there isn’t anything you can match it to, per se. If I was commissioner? Well, I’m not privy what he has to balance, what all is at stake in terms of what message he sends to fans, to sponsors, to team owners. So there’s a lot more on his plate to contemplate before he makes a decision.
We respect that process, but from a union perspective we have to protect the short term and long-term rights of our members, and when members do wrong things or make mistakes, they’ll be rightfully punished, and we’re just here to make sure that that doesn’t go beyond what it should be under the circumstances."
Fish did say, though, that he hopes the NBA puts a number to the suspension soon, because leaving a player out indefinitely could set a bad precedent.
"I don’t know if there is a magic number of a certain amount of time, but I do think it’s something we have to keep an eye on, because I don’t know if it’s about fair or unfair, but if it sets the right precedent to indefinitely suspend someone and just kind of keep it hanging without putting a name or title or number on it and moving on from there."
PRESIDENTIAL CRACK-UP
Part of the perks of winning an NBA title is the White House visit, and passing through our Nation’s capital for the first time this year, the Lakers got to make their trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave on Monday.
Fish presented the nation’s number one basketball fan with an autographed ball, and according to the Orange County Register’s Kevin Ding, was part of a presidential inside joke:
"How’s married life?" Obama asked Lamar Odom.
"Beautiful," Odom answered quietly.
"Yeah, you’d better say that," Obama said then for all Odom’s teammates to overhear, "because she’s sitting right there!"That was the unpublicized dialogue with the president’s back to the audience that produced such laughter on stage. It was so entertaining that Shannon Brown had to cover his mouth and Derek Fisher couldn’t help but start clapping.
NEXT UP
The Lakers head to the Verizon Center to face the Washington Wizards. The game tips off at 4:00 p.m. PST and can be seen regionally on KCAL and nationally on NBATV.
RELATED ARTICLES
Sources: League to detail Arenas’ ban (ESPN.com, Jan. 23, 2010)
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4850803
Lakers, Obama share laughs (OC Register, Jan. 25, 2010)
http://www.ocregister.com/sports/obama-230954-lakers-president.html