The Lakers got another strong effort from Derek Fisher on Monday night and because of it they are off to a great start on their longest road-trip of the season.
Derek scored 10 points, notched four assists and grabbed two rebounds as LA defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, 93-84. The Lakers have now won the first two games of their seven-game road swing.
D-Fish continued his habit of kicking off LA games with baskets when he scored Los Angeles’ second bucket of the game, less then three minutes in, to tie it at four. In 10 of the past 12 Lakers games, Fish has been in involved in one of the Lakers first two scores.
But that was just the beginning of No. 2’s evening. Two minutes later, D-Fish assisted on an Andrew Bynum bucket, his first dime of the night. Two minutes after that, Derek hit his second bucket of the quarter, then took a breather on the bench.
Fish helped the Lakers keep their edge heading into halftime when, with a minute left in the second quarter, he dished an assist to Pau Gasol, who drained a basket to make it a two-possession game. At half, LA led 50-45.
To start the third, Derek came out big, draining a three-pointer on the Lakers’ third possession out of the locker room. He followed that up almost immediately with an assist to Ron Artest for another trey.
Three minutes into the second half, the Lakers were on a 10-4 run and had pushed their lead to double digits. But Memphis hung in and stayed in the game, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com documented:
"The Lakers looked great at the onset of the quarter, utilizing excellent ball movement to get open threes for Fisher and Artest on back-to-back possessions that opened a 12-point lead, but the Grizz battled back to cut that lead in half into a Phil Jackson time out. Clearing defensive rebounds was a problem, Memphis having already grabbed eight, though L.A. had collected nine of their own at the other basket."
After a late third quarter breather, No. 2 came back in during the fourth and hit another three, pushing Los Angeles’ lead back to six with eight minutes to play. Memphis fought back, but the Lakers went on an 11-2 run to seal the game. During the stretch, Derek found Ron Artest for another three, helping Los Angeles leave with a victory.
Fish finished 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc in LA’s 36th victory of the season. The Lakers’ efficient shooting was one of the best parts of the night according to Mark Medina of the LA Times:
"Forget about the shooting percentages in some of these finishes. Bryant’s 19 points on six-of-17 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists showed his continual effort in keeping his aggressive offensive approach and looking to share the pie with others. The latter facet wouldn’t have happened, if not for increased aggressiveness.
And whether it was Gasol (17 points on six-of-11 shooting, nine rebounds) continuously getting himself open in the post, Artest (13 points on four-of-11 shooting and three of six from downtown) feeling more in rhythm within the offense, Odom (15 points on five-of-14 shooting, 11 rebounds) constantly moving on offense and Fisher (10 points on four-of-seven shooting) showing more reliability from the field, Bryant had the supporting cast.
Some examples of quality offense: Bryant feeding Gasol as he cut through the lane, Gasol and Bryant throwing lobs to Bynum, Artest feeding bounce passes to Gasol and Artest firing a cross-court pass to Fisher for an open three-pointer."
NEXT UP
The Lakers will take their two-game winning streak even further east and enter hostile territory on Thursday night, when they will face off against the Boston Celtics.
LA dropped its last meeting with Boston just over a week ago at the Staples Center and Derek knows they’ll be in for another tough matchup on Thursday:
"By-and-large, you’re going to see the Boston Celtics when you play the Boston Celtics," he said. "They’re going to play hard, they’re going to defend and they’re going to help each other. They’re going to share the ball on offense and very rarely are they going to beat themselves. You have to beat them in order to win."
The rematch tips off at 5 p.m PST. and can be seen on TNT.
RELATED ARTICLES
- Lamar Odom’s double-double helps Lakers top Grizzlies (ESPN.com, February 7, 2011)
- Five things to take away from Lakers’ 93-84 victory (LA Times, February 7, 2011)
- Next stop Boston (Silver Screen and Roll, February 7, 2011)
- Lakers 93, Grizzlies 84: Running Diary (Lakers Blog, February 7, 2011)
- Lakers guard Derek Fisher on Boston Celtics (LA Times, January 29, 2011)
Thank you for taking a photo with me at the Westin hotel in Memphis 2011. You played the best.