As a proven winner, Derek Fisher knows how to keep his team from going on extended losing streaks.
It’s one of the reasons why, over the last four years, the Lakers have lost more than two games in a row only twice.
Last night in Milwaukee, Derek helped prevent the Lakers from embarking on another such skid.
D-Fish was perfect from the three-point arc and the foul line, leading Los Angeles to a 118-107 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. No. 2 hit both his free throws and drained two threes on two attempts, scoring ten points on the evening.
Derek and the Lakers stopped a two-game slump with a win on Tuesday (Getty Images).
Fish got the Lakers started in the first when his dish to Kobe Bryant resulted in LA’s first basket of the night. The Lakers led 32-29 at the end of the first session. After a brief breather, Derek came back into the game in the second and hit his first shot, a three-pointer to put the Lakers up by two. On the ensuing possession, Fish was fouled and drained both attempts.
The Lakers started the second half with a miss and had their next two shots blocked, but there was Fish to calm the team down, nailing another three to cut Milwaukee’s burgeoning lead to four. Four possessions later, Fish drove the hole and put in a layup to bring Los Angeles within two.
Fish ended his evening with his second assist of the night, finding Kobe Bryant who’s basket gave the Lakers a four point lead. It was a lead LA wouldn’t relinquish and their losing streak stopped at two.
MILESTONE ASSIST
After starting out the 2010 season 8-0, the Los Angeles Lakers dropped a pair of road games last week with losses in Denver and Phoenix.
In Denver, Derek scored eight points on 3-7 shooting, the seventh time in eight games that Fish produced eight or more points. Fish also notched four assists in defeat, to three different players. One of Derek’s dimes brought about a historic milestone for Fish’s good friend and long time backcourt mate.
"Outside of three forgettable seasons from 2004 to 2007, Kobe Bryant has spent his entire career with Derek Fisher," wrote ESPN’s Arash Markazi. "They were both taken in the 1996 NBA draft and have shared the same backcourt on five NBA championship teams. Appropriately enough when Bryant became the youngest player in NBA history to score 26,000 career points in Denver on Thursday it was Fisher who fed him the ball."
The execution was textbook Kobe and Derek two-man game, as Markazi wrote:
"
[Bryant] went down on the right block, backed down Arron Afflalo like a power forward and called for the ball from Fisher. After a couple of dribbles he shook Afflalo and knocked down a jump shot."Markazi was sure to note that, a few minutes later Kobe was ready to return the favor to his man Fish:
"We got to see the Bryant we’ve become more accustomed to over the past three seasons. After Bryant and Fisher forced Chauncey Billups into a bad shot on defense, Bryant asked Fisher for the ball and dribbled the ball up the court with 29 seconds left in the half. Everyone figured Bryant would simply run down the clock before taking a long range shot. Although Bryant milked the clock down some, he quickly flicked a pass to Fisher with six seconds left on the clock and Fisher nailed a deep three-pointer to give the Lakers a 64-57 lead."
Unfortunately, even with the contributions of D-Fish and Kobe, the Lakers couldn’t win in Denver.
TRIPLES GALORE
Three nights later, in Phoenix, the story was a familiar one.No. 2 did his part, hitting two of his four shots from beyond the arc. Through 11 games, D-Fish is hitting at a remarkable 58.3 percent on his three point attempts, good for fifth in the league just behind teammate Lamar Odom, who is draining triples at a 58.8 percent success rate. No. 2 is on pace to shatter his career best mark for three-point percentage this year. His previous season best is 41 percent.
Coincidentally, while Fish continued his hot-shooting from long range, it was the three that did the Lakers in. LA couldn’t contain a hot Suns team and Phoenix hit on a remarkable 22 three-pointers Sunday night en route to 121-116 victory over the defending would champions. The 22 threes for the Suns were one shy of the NBA record.
Derek’s two threes gave him six points for the night. He also added three assists and in a game where three-pointers were the difference, all of Fish’s assists came on the long ball. He hit Kobe Bryant once and Ron Artest twice to help the Lakers to nine points.
LABOR RELATIONS
While life on the court is Derek’s main priority right now, he’ll also be spending a lot of time this season working hard with NBA executives and owners, in his role as president of the NBA Players Association, trying to hammer out a new labor agreement.The labor negotiations are set to heat up during this season’s All-Star Break. Owners and players are firmly entrenched in their respective camps but it’s up to Fish to try and bridge the gap. Working out a deal won’t be easy, but Derek says he never gives up hope.
"I’m an optimistic type of guy,” he told FanHouse.com. "I believe as long as there’s time left in the game, you can figure out a way to win."
The most contentious matter at hand is salary, with owners wanting cuts to be made. Though the players association is against that, D-Fish is nonetheless being judicious in the matter.
"We’re open to a lot of things but mainly open to realistic dialogue that’s focused on real solutions rather than just throwing things out just to see how their response is.”
Derek knows some balance must be struck for basketball to be played next season.
"We fully understand and respect that there are some teams in some markets that are having a very difficult time. And so we’re not interested in seeing any teams go away because that means less jobs. But we’re also interested in what’s best for the game of basketball going forward. … We’re committed to really trying to keep NBA basketball at the level it is right now, which is at an all-time high. It makes no sense to put a stop to it for any reason.”
And while time is dwindling for a deal, at this point, no one doubts No. 2’s ability to come up big late.
BEING ACCOUNTABLE
D-Fish knows that, defending NBA champions or not, the Los Angeles Lakers cannot win games simply by resting on their laurels.So Fish came down hard on his team last Tuesday after a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves that Fish said lacked the energy that he’s accustomed to from the Lakers. After the 99-94 home win one that pushed the team to 8-0 for the season, Fish called on every one of the Lakers to reevaluate their attitude and instead of just acting like the best, play like the best.
"There was an air of complacency, of arrogance, of ‘we don’t have to play as hard as the other team to win’ that I didn’t like tonight," Derek said. "That goes for all of us."
Mark Medina of the LA Times wrote that the way Derek spoke reflected his status as the vocal leader of the Lakers.
"Fisher’s words not only were 100% accurate, I thought they were 100% necessary. That’s not to say Bryant and Jackson are wrong in downplaying the criticism. They actually reflected the best way a veteran team should react, considering they were respectful, not defensive and realistic."
Fish added that, prior to the Wolves game, he was happy with how the Lakers had been handling the season and the expectations. But he did not want the tone they set on Tuesday to carry over.
Medina wrote that it was the right time for Derek to speak up:
"Fisher took preventive measures and sounded the alarm. The reason has very little to do with the outcome itself. As Fisher said, "I don’t know what the numbers are, what the stats are, we just didn’t play the game the way it was supposed to be played."
NEXT UP
LA’s long and winding road trip takes them to Detroit tonight as they take on the Pistons in the second game of a back-to-back.It’s only the second time this season LA has played a back-to-back. The first time, they beat the Kings 112-100 in Sacramento on November 3rd behind 11 points from D-Fish who came up clutch late to secure the victory.
Tonight’s tip-off in Detroit is scheduled 4:30 p.m. PST and the game can be seen regionally on KCAL.
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