When Derek Fisher’s buddy and teammate Lamar Odom dropped 19 points and 19 rebounds on the Phoenix Suns on Monday night, Fish was one of the first to congratulate LO on a job well done.
So when No. 2 heard after practice yesterday that Suns big man Amar’e Stoudemire called Lamar’s game "lucky" it gave D-Fish a chance to reflect and react like only he can, as quoted on ESPN Los Angeles:
Stoudemire’s comments made Lakers captain Derek Fisher recall recently watching Larry King interview Mick Jagger.
"They were asking Mick Jagger about why he felt like the Rolling Stones have been so great for so long," Fisher said. "Obviously, he talked about talent, working hard, blah, blah, blah. But he said there is some luck involved in being good. When you’re great for a long time, you have to be lucky sometimes."
Derek knows of what he speaks intimately, as the author of some "I can’t believe he hit that" shots over his career. Some would call it luck, others call it clutch.
With Odom, as with D-Fish himself, luck or not, all that counted was the bottom line, which on Monday was filled by Odom’s stats.
"If he wants to call Lamar lucky last night, I’ll take 19 and 19 as luck any day of the week."
Fish went on to tell the Los Angeles Times that he believes that every player gets their chance to shine on the Lakers, but at the same time, each player sacrifices gaudy statistics for team benefit:
"I don’t think it’s a question of his effort," Fish said. "It’s a game-to-game thing. There isn’t anybody on our team, maybe with the exception of Kobe, that statistically, every night, certain numbers need to look a certain way. Everybody else, you just have to be willing to take what comes to you on the nights when it does and when you have a good game going offensively and you can capitalize on it, by all means, do it.
"Then there are other games where you may only get three or four shots and you just have to rebound and play defense, hustle and do whatever it takes for the team to win."
To watch Derek talk more about sacrifice, particularly that of Ron Artest in these playoffs, click here.
NEXT UP
D-Fish, Odom, Artest and the Lake Show will have the chance to bury the Suns in a deep hole tonight when Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals tips off from Staples Center at 6:00 p.m. PST. All the action can be seen on TNT.
RELATED STORIES
Stoudemire: Odom had ‘lucky’ game (EspnLosAngeles.com, May 19, 2010)
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5199267
Lakers guard Derek Fisher on Amar’e Stoudemire (Los Angeles Times You Tube Channel, May 18, 2010)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcQjdNcwU6w