For maybe the first time in his second tour of duty with the Los Angeles Lakers, Derek Fisher stepped back on Tuesday night and let a teammate invoke some motivational words.
It was Fish’s friend Kobe Bryant who stepped up and delivered a message that rang through to the troops.
Kevin Ding of the OC Register recounted Kobe’s words:
"Listen to how everybody’s talking about you," Bryant told his teammates. "Embrace this. This is L.A. This comes with the territory of being back-to-back champs. You have to deal with it. You have to embrace it. And you have to use it as fuel and motivation."
The Lakers responded with an often times dominant 108-83 win over the Detroit Pistons.
There are many ways a leader can help his team out, some small, some large. With his speaking role minimized for the night, D-Fish did the things on the floor that came up large and No. 2’s performance was a difference in the game.
Fish finished with seven points and a rebound, but it was his momentum changing plays on both ends of the court that made the difference Tuesday.
The Lakers began the third quarter with a scant three-point lead, but after Ron Artest hit a trey to kick off a Laker run, Fish jumped in, with a three and later a two-point jumper.
During the stretch, in which the Lakers pulled away, the passion in Fish’s play was visible, wrote Mark Medina of the LA Times:
"The Lakers opened with Ron Artest hitting an open three-pointer, Pau Gasol creating a turnover and Derek Fisher also nailing a trey. Once Fisher hit a 20-foot jump shot to give the Lakers a 59-44 lead with 7:37 remaining, he and Bryant hugged at midcourt."
Fish was just as effective and integral on the other side of the court, leading the Lakers in hustle plays, Medina wrote:
"There were also players such as Fisher and Artest who hit critical shots in the third quarter, but also established a defensive blueprint with Fisher’s deflections and Artest’s tenacious effort."
The result of the complete effort from Fish was a twenty-five point victory that put the Lakers back on track.
KOBE’S MILESTONE
It was fitting that on a night where he galvanized his teammates, Kobe Bryant also reached a personal milestone.
Bryant passed Dominique Wilkins for 10th all-time on the NBA scoring list and now has 26,671 career points. It’s a mark that D-Fish believes his friend and teammate is more than worthy of.
"Another credit and another notch in his belt so to speak in his long, storied career." Derek told the LA Times. "It’s humbling to think this is a guy that I’ve spent most of my career playing alongside of and he deserves everything he gets in terms of accomplishments. The scary part about it is he’s not done. He’s going to close the gap pretty good between 1 and 10 at a pretty fast rate in the next couple of years."
NEXT UP
The Lakers finish off a back-to-back tonight in Phoenix where they take on their closest chasers in the Pacific Division, the Suns.
LA is 2-0 against Phoenix this year and in the two victories, Fish has averaged 8.5 points and three assists.
Tonight’s tip-off is scheduled 7:30 PST and the game can be seen nationwide on ESPN.
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