With eleven seconds left on the 24-second clock, Derek Fisher does not launch up contested threes. This one in particular was hotly contested, with the lanky Rajon Rondo moving quickly to smother No. 2. The situation was tailor-made for a swing pass.
But this was Game 7 of the NBA Finals and Derek knew the Lakers needed something.
 Exultation (Getty Images). |
For the previous 42 minutes, the Lakers had been trailing, on their home court, in Game 7, to the Boston Celtics. Just six minutes stood between the Lakers and an unfortunate end to their season. So instead of moving the ball, Fish stepped up.
Receiving a kick out from Pau Gasol, No. 2 quickly pulled the ball up over his head, and just as smoothly, arms up high, lofted a high-arching shot.
Was there any doubt?
As it fell softly through the twine, game finally tied at 64, there was a collective sense that the basket was the tide-turner. And it was.
The Lakers claimed their second consecutive NBA title with an 83-79 victory in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night. It marks Fish’s fifth NBA championship of his career and it took another colossal bucket from him to get it.
"That shot continued to feed the crowd and the energy," Derek told the LA Times. "It got us the momentum we needed to finish this game down the stretch."
Celtics coach Doc Rivers knew the magnitude of the play.
"Fisher’s three I thought
[was] the biggest single shot in the game," Rivers said.For that one shot alone, Chris Webber of NBATV named D-Fish his Game 7 MVP:
"If Fisher does not hit that three pointer to pick them up, everybody was missing free throws and everybody was tight. It almost relaxed the crowd, it relaxed the team. I think [because of] his play, and that big bucket, which they never lost the lead after, I’m going to give it to Fisher."
Spurred by another titanic three from their clutch captain, Los Angeles moved quickly to a six-point lead. They had to hold on, challenged by timely three-point shooting from the Celtics and the lead shrank to two in the waning seconds.
But with Fish on the court there was no way the Celtics would wrestle this one away and the Lakers clung to the lead. They increased it to four, and as time crept away, four was good enough for five.
"That’s D-Fish. That’s just who he is." Kobe Bryant said referring to Derek’s key three-pointer. "There’s not enough words of praise I can use to describe him and how I feel about him."
Bryant also told reporters that Fish gave one more emotional pep talk to his teammates before the fourth quarter that really inspired them.
"He’s our emotional leader and our verbal leader," Bryant said, "and he just said ‘Guys, we have 12 minutes. 12 minutes to dig down and get back into this game. Everything that we worked hard for, we’ve got 12 minutes to put it together.’ We followed suit."
THREE’S COMPANY
While Fish’s fifth ring set him apart from every other active player save his teammate and Drive for Five running buddy Bryant, Derek attained a measure of personal glory as well on Thursday night.No. 2 hadn’t hit a three pointer all series, but D-Fish has never lost confidence, in his stroke or in himself.
So when a loose ball found its way to an open Fish behind the arc, just one minute and five seconds into the game, he stroked it and it fell smoothly through the net.
2010 Champions (Getty Images).Fish had actually prophesized the first three in a conversation with NBA TV’s David Aldridge prior to the game. As Fish and Aldridge recalled in a postgame interview:
"You said, ‘If I get it, it’s going up,’" Aldridge remarked.
"First look! First look! I told you," Derek replied. "I had a feeling that I was going to have some opportunities tonight. The first one was just great to get us started."
It was No. 2’s 42nd three pointer of his NBA Finals career, tying him with none other than Michael Jordan. When Fish tied the game at 64 in the fourth with another sweet three, he passed No. 23, and is now second on the all-time list to "Big Shot" Robert Horry.
After the game, No. 2 spoke about forgetting everything, and always having faith in your follow through.
"Every game I step into it, I’m always in a mental space of being ready to make a play or do whatever needs to be done at any point."
D-Fish said his sublime confidence comes from being in that position before.
"You have to be in The Finals seven times before you can make big plays in The Finals. If you don’t make it to The Finals, then there’s no big plays to be made."
Of course there’s no better feeling than hitting a shot that switches momentum and picks up everyone on the team. Fish knows a thing or two about those.
"There are things that are contagious or infectious in terms of seeing that ball go through the basket. I’m glad I was able to knock down a couple for us in that second half."
His bucket gave the Lakers a confidence they didn’t lose the rest of the way down the stretch. It was the shot that swung the series, and for that, D-Fish couldn’t be prouder.
"To hit a shot and play a part in the game that helps win a championship means more to me than anything."
A FIGHT FOR FIVE
From the onset of the series, Derek knew that battling Boston for another title would take everything and leave nothing but a slew of broken, battered bodies, with the ring going solely to the team that endured.But the Lakers captain said it’s been that way from the first day of training camp. The NBA season is an exhausting onslaught and that the difficulty of the campaign is what makes everything seems so sweet right now.
"I think great accomplishments come out of negativity, setbacks, adversity. There are times where you have to be down in order to go back up."
Though Fish could be talking about the scope of his career, at that moment, he was referring to the blowout loss the Lakers suffered to the Celtics exactly two years ago to the day of last night’s win.
"That was a down, low moment for us. And I think since that moment, there’s been a greater appreciation for what it takes to be the best and the sacrifice that is required, and the last two seasons there hasn’t been anybody better at it than us. From October to June 17th, we’ve been the best team in the NBA at doing whatever it takes to win a title."
Fish said the entirety of the situation, from rebounding from that Finals to winning a title the last year and this year climbing out of a 13-point third quarter hole in Game 7 of The Finals, speaks volumes about everyone in the Lakers locker room.
"You know, I just think that says a lot about our team because we largely have a lot of the same guys, and that says a lot about your character when things — there couldn’t have been a more embarrassing loss to have in front of the whole world than that night, and the last two seasons we’ve tried our best to erase that. Although we never will, but winning two championships definitely helps."
It definitely helps a lot.
It also helps to have motivation and as he wrapped his NBATV interview with Aldridge, Fish had some thanks for the people that provide him with his.
"At the start of the season and throughout the season, people were saying Fisher is too old. He can’t do it anymore. What do you say to them now?"
"Thank You," Derek said, staring directly into the camera. "Thank You. That’s what I say. Thank You very much."
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Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Ron Artest and Derek Fisher discuss Lakers’ 2010 NBA Championship (L.A Times, June 17, 2010)
http://lakersblog.latimes.com/files/lakers-guard-derek-fisher-on-2010-nba-championship.pdf
