Derek Makes All the Right Moves

//Derek Makes All the Right Moves

Derek Makes All the Right Moves

By | 2016-10-22T05:57:49-08:00 March 16th, 2011|News|Comments Off on Derek Makes All the Right Moves

Derek Fisher isn’t a flashy player on the court by any means.

His game is as hard-nosed and workmanlike as they come.

But Monday night against the Orlando Magic, Fish decided to mix a little panache into a Los Angeles Lakers win.

Late in the third quarter with his Lakers clinging to a three-point lead, Derek watched as Orlando’s Hedo Turkoglu put up a trey. The shot clanged off the rim and bounced back towards midcourt, where No. 2 outhustled Turkoglu for the rebound and pushed the ball up court.

Though the Magic’s Jason Richardson got himself in perfect defensive position, Derek still drove toward the hoop.

Richardson went to foul Fish, trying to prevent a shot, but No. 2 put up a scoop shot with his left hand that kissed off the glass and rolled through the hoop. It was a play that swung momentum for the Lakers, putting them up five.

"It just happened," Derek said after the game. "It’s fun to compete and give everything you have. Sometimes things just kind of happen for you in the right place and the right time. I got a chance to run out and make a great play and get some energy for the second half."

The play was big for Fish and the Lakers, but just a small part of No. 2’s strong performance as he led the way in a 97-84 victory over the Magic.

Derek dropped 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a perfect 2-of-2 showing from three-point range, as Los Angeles thoroughly avenged a loss to the Magic earlier in the season.

Derek said his shooting performance was a product of him getting involved in the Lakers’ offense:

"Just taking what comes," he said. "There are going be nights were offensively you’re not going to get many opportunities or even if you get a few they may not go in. You just have to keep playing the game and remaining confident, and realizing that the team still needs you to be aggressive and be confident out there, and just taking advantage of what’s there."

TAKING CHARGE
The outburst of points for Fish didn’t prevent him from also playing his usual gritty game.

He drew seven fouls on the night, including a huge one in the second when he took a charge from Dwight Howard. Greg Patton of the Press-Enterprise wrote that it was those plays that showed him how well Derek is already tuned up for the postseason.

If you didn’t know by now that the Lakers are rounding into postseason form, all you had to do was watch Derek Fisher on Monday night.

The veteran point guard is just one more piece of the puzzle, waking from the team’s long winter snooze.

It wasn’t just the pair of warm-up-for-a-playoff-winner three-pointers he drained against Orlando, or the 15 points he gifted to the Lakers’ 97-84 victory.

It was those tell-tale offensive fouls he drew — three in the first half alone. Twice he smartly jerked away from Magic point guard Jameer Nelson’s stiff-arms, getting sympathetic whistles. Then he planted himself in front of 6-foot-11, 285-pound Dwight Howard during one ball transition and let the big guy collapse on him. Ouch!

A nasty bruise on Fish? Spring has arrived at Staples Center.

"It’s no fun at all," Fisher said of taking a charge from Howard. "But he runs down the court so hard, you do things to try and slow him down and help our big guys.

"It’s a play you have to make…"

That’s the kind of sacrifice, Fish told the LA Times, that everyone on the Lakers routinely makes to help them become a better club.

"When you play on this team, you have to make consciously make sacrifices. If you aren’t willingly checking yourself at the door and constantly look in the mirror, and aren’t saying to yourself ‘I’m willing to exchange All-Star appearances and higher statistics stats to be part of a championship team every year,’ you lose that balance."

It’s that balance, Fish said, that makes the Lakers one of the league’s top teams. Although Fish did say that, given some time to think about the move, he probably wouldn’t jump right in front of the freight train that is Dwight Howard.

"If you think about it, you get out of the way. You just have to do it. It’s like diving into cold water."

To go along with his 15 points, Fish also mixed in two assists and two steals. The Lakers capitalized on 18 Orlando turnovers including nine by Howard, who turned the ball over nearly twice as many times as LA did as a team (five).

"I think the turnovers were the key," Derek said. "It allowed us to get more attempts at the basket and then we were able to get offensive rebounds off of some of those attempts. So it kind of kept them on their heels and on the defensive end a lot of the game."

To watch Fish talk more about the win, click here.

DOMINANT DREW
The Lakers are currently enjoying a stretch of phenomenal balance between offense and defense.

LA is consistently holding teams under 100 points and No. 2 chalks that up to the strong play of Andrew Bynum, who had a career-high 18 rebounds Monday night.

"I think physically he is feeling more comfortable," Fish said. "His understanding of how valuable he can be for us on the defensive end, really being the anchor of our defense, I think that mentality has allowed him to take huge steps in terms of being the centerpiece of what we are doing.

"I think a lot of it is just forgetting about being injured and just playing has really helped him."

Derek said that when people ask him why the Lakers are doing so well lately (10-1 since the All-Star Break) he points to Bynum:

"To be able to consistently hold teams in the 80s like we have in the last couple of weeks has been a lot of it begins and ends with his presence," D-Fish said. "He’s a presence in the middle that really makes us difficult to beat."

ALWAYS A TROJAN
Last night, Derek watched as his alma mater, The University of Arkansas-Little Rock was ousted from the NCAA Tournament, by UNC-Asheville in the first game of March Madness.

No. 2 tweeted after the game that he was still proud of and happy for the program that made him into the player he is.

"Came up short but proud of the effort by my Ark-Little Rock Trojans in the 1st round of NCAA," Fish tweeted. "Hold your heads up fellas! You are the 1st team in 20+ years to rep us in the dance! Go Trojans!!"

MINUTE TO WIN IT
Though the Lakers don’t play again until Friday, D-Fish and teammate Shannon Brown will be taking part in a game tonight to benefit charity.

Derek and Shannon will be contestants on NBC’s "Minute to Win It" tonight at 7 p.m. PST. Fish will be playing for The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Foundation, Inc. while Shannon will be representing his Shannon Brown Foundation. The Lakers released a statement on the appearance:

Fisher and Brown begin the episode with "Nice Build" where they must work together to build a three level pyramid of 15 paper reams on a table. Other games include: Whippersnapper, Speed Eraser, Cantenna, Gettin Juggy With It, Knock It Off, Ball Cap. Guy Fieri hosts.

Tune it a 7 p.m. PST to see them play.

NEXT UP
The Lakers have a few days of practice in LA to get ready for the road ahead.

They don’t hit the Staples Center floor again until Friday when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves. The game tips at 7:30 p.m. PST and can be seen on FS West.

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