Fish Drives the Lakers in Game 5

//Fish Drives the Lakers in Game 5

Fish Drives the Lakers in Game 5

By | 2016-10-22T05:57:48-08:00 April 27th, 2011|News|Comments Off on Fish Drives the Lakers in Game 5

The early trend of this NBA postseason has been excellent point guard play.

Derek Fisher added his name to the list in Game 5 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

Fish played a near perfect night at the point, pushing the Lakers to a 106-90 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday night with his effort on both sides of the court.

Derek missed only one shot in the Game 5 victory, which put the
Lakers a win away from advancing
to the West semis. He connected on 5-of-6 from the field, including
2-of-3 from downtown. The 83 percent shooting was Fish’s best so far in this young postseason.

It was also, excluding a one-shot performance against the Celtics in last year’s Finals, his best postseason shooting performance since returning to Los Angeles.

"It’s just taking what comes," Derek said of his performance. "I slept well last night. We got back at 4 in the morning and as disappointed as we all were, all I could think about was tonight. I just think you have to love this time of year and love what this brings out of you as an individual and as a team."

In addition, Derek again took on the task of guarding Hornets star Chris Paul, who was unable to control the game as he did Game 4. Darius Soriano of Forum Blue and Gold applauded the effort:

"Fisher was simply excellent in this game. 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting for Fisher, not to mention some solid defense on Paul when put on an island in isolation."

No. 2 did the brunt of his work in the game’s first three quarters, as the Lakers built up a lead. He kicked off the game with a big three that halted a 5-0 Hornets run. Derek then followed that up with an assist to Pau Gasol that gave Los Angeles a one-point edge. Two minutes later, Fish hit his second shot of the evening, a long jumper that gave him five points in the game’s first seven minutes.

The second quarter’s final minutes were another emphatic showing from Fish. With 2:40 to play, Derek sank a layup. He then recorded back-to-back assists, finding Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. After the duel dimes, he hit another layup that gave Los Angeles a three-point lead and, perhaps more importantly, momentum heading into the half.

No. 2 maintained that momentum coming out of the locker room, nailing a three on the Lakers’ first second half possession. He bookended the period by sinking a free throw in the quarter’s waning seconds. That put Los Angeles up seven heading into the fourth, and allowed the Lakers to take home a huge Game 5 victory.

Their work through three allowed LA to limit the minutes of Fish and his fellow starters in the fourth. No. 2 logged just 4:52 of fourth quarter action, completing a night worth appreciating, as Janis Carr of the Orange County Register wrote:

"Tuesday was one of those nights. Fisher went 5 for 6 from the field for 13 points and had three assists and one steal in the Lakers’ 106-90 victory against New Orleans in Game 5 at Staples Center. So after logging 33 minutes, Fisher left the game with 1:05 left and received a rousing ovation as he strolled off the court."

ESPN’s Andy Kamenetzky saw the exact same thing.

"The old man is known mostly for crunch time theatrics during the playoffs, but tonight, he went to work early. Fisher chipped in nine first half points, three

[assists] and a steal, and his fingerprints were all over a critical second quarter push when the lead was regained for good.

Yes, Chris Paul enjoyed some success with Fish shadowing him, but lest we forget, he’s Chris-freaking-Paul. But when the dust finally settled, CP3 was sitting on 20 points and 12 dimes, which is pretty easy to swallow. The goal is to prevent Paul from going absolutely bananas, and Fisher had a hand in accomplishing that mission."

A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE
Of Fish’s five buckets on the night, two came on driving layups, created by the Lakers running a play that’s bugged them this series.

Derek scored twice in the second quarter after working in tandem with Kobe Bryant on a 1-2 pick and roll, the type of play New Orleans runs on most of their trips down the floor. According to No. 2, it helps to have one of the NBA’s best scorers running it with you.

"Whenever Kobe is involved, you know the guy is stressing out about what he’s going to do. You can’t leave Kobe Bryant so obviously the choice is going to be to take the risk with the other guy that has the ball. Tonight, in that situation, it was me," Fish said. "I’m just making the read."

Derek said it’s not a play the Lakers try often, but in the playoffs, you have to dig deep sometimes.

"Although we’re not a pick and roll team, there are certain times when we have to put teams in a situation where they have to make a decision," he said. "The decision is tough. Are you going to switch? Are you going to stay home? How are you going to play the situation? If you do it enough, just like we’re finding out on our end, there will be times where a guy will make a mistake, somebody falls down, different things that just happen the more you run a play. We were able to take advantage of it a couple times tonight."

KOBE GUTS IT OUT
The biggest question mark for LA entering Game 5 was the status of Bryant, who suffered a foot injury in Sunday’s Game 4.

But Bryant was determined to play through the pain.

"He plays no matter what’s going on," Fish said. "If he has two hands and two feet, he’s going to play and he’s going to figure it out. We trust him to make those decisions."

Bryant made the right decision, shrugging off the pain to the tune of 19 points on 8-of-13 from the field, letting adrenaline carry he and the Lakers to a 3-2 lead in the series. D-Fish, one of Bryant’s best friends, offered a unique perspective on what drives the Lakers’ star:

"If he plays, he’s going to be Kobe," Derek said. "Even had he not been as efficient as he was, his presence on the floor impacts the game. We obviously are a much better team with him out there.

"I think it’s definitely hurting him," Fish added regarding Kobe’s injury. "But I think he was able to get into his pregame routine, get himself warm and loosened up, get himself some therapy and treatment before the game. Once you get out there, adrenaline takes over. Competition takes over. You almost forget how bad things are hurting."

Despite the injury, Bryant played his most efficient game of the season and that was the most important part, according to Derek:

"He was just really trying to be patient with himself physically and also get a feel for how they were defending him and where he can attack. He was very efficient; he played a really smart game. We fed off of that more than anything. We fed off of how smartly he played, how efficient he was. He was really good in his decision-making about when to attack and when to move the ball to get other people going.

"Hopefully his foot will respond well after playing tonight and not cause him too many problems over the next couple days so he can be really solid again on Thursday night."

NEXT UP
With Game 5 in the books and a chance to finish staring the Lakers in the face, Derek is looking forward to a huge Game 6 on Thursday night.

"We’ve given ourselves an opportunity to close this thing out," he said. "It’s going to be difficult, but we should be excited about this opportunity."

That opportunity to close out the Western Conference Quarterfinals comes in New Orleans. Thursday’s tip off is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT and the game can be seen on TNT.

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