NBA players often remark that the best thing about their sport is the fact that, with a game every few days, losses don’t get the chance to linger.
In putting a tough Christmas Day defeat at the hands of the Miami Heat behind them, Derek Fisher wants the Lakers to have that type of short memory.
"That’s the good and the bad part of this business," he said. "You don’t have time or the opportunity to feel sorry for yourself or lick your wounds."
Especially with a back-to-back starting tonight in San Antonio against the NBA-leading Spurs.
"You have to get prepared to play another really good team, maybe the next day or 48 hours later," No. 2 said. "So that’s the position we are in now, going into Tuesday night’s game against San Antonio. They are our next opponent."
The Spurs, who boast a league-best 26-4 record have already claimed 17 wins on their home floor, so going into the game distracted is not an option for LA.
"They are obviously playing great basketball, best record in the league," Derek said. "And on their home court they’ll be hard to beat. We have our work cut out for us."
What the Lakers will have to do to beat San Antonio is correct the mistakes they made in Saturday’s 96-80 loss to the Heat. Fish said Miami was able to throw the Lakers off their game.
"I think early on we got frustrated with them, even though the game didn’t get out of hand until the fourth quarter, we seemed to play frustrated, tense, angry, as opposed to settling into the game and making the play in front of us at the time."
No. 2 himself had six points and three assists in the game, but he said Miami completely disrupted LA’s rhythm. Miami happens to be playing top-notch team defense against all-comers, so the Lakers were not alone in their frustration.
"I think
[the Heat] did a really good job on the defensive end of making it difficult for us to find some rhythm and some flow to our game," Derek said. "Defense is where they are making it difficult for people. The teams that separate themselves are the ones that defensively separate themselves and they are at the top of the league right now."But he also concluded that it’s not something the Lakers shouldn’t be able to overcome. Every team the Lakers will play will present a unique set of obstacles to the Champs.
"I think every team presents its challenges in terms of personnel and in strengths and weaknesses of individuals and the team."
NEXT UP
The next challenge the Lakers face is the Spurs tonight in Texas.The Lakers split their season series with San Antonio last year and Fish averaged 6.25 points per game in the four meetings.
The game tips off at 5:30 PST and will be shown on KCAL TV.
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