A day after his team fell to the Dallas Mavericks to open the Western Conference Semifinals with a Game 1 loss, Derek Fisher could not hide his displeasure.
When he spoke to the press on Tuesday, let some of emotion out, talking about what about Game 1 bothered him.
"Certain losses sting more than others," Fish said. "Given the circumstances, this counted as one of those losses. "When you have the opportunity to win a playoff game on your home court and you don’t take advantage of it, that is obviously frustrating."
Derek and his co-captain Kobe Bryant have been through this before (Getty Images).
The Lakers squandered a big lead and a steady showing from the veteran guard, who scored eight points and recorded six assists. Despite at one point being up 16 points, Los Angeles could not hold on to the lead, nor, in the late stages, take it back. That lack of fight really stuck with Derek:
"That’s probably the most frustrating thing for me, our inability to respond," he said. "We’re up one, we’re up three on our home court, in there fourth court. Just close it out and get the win. We weren’t able to do that."
Although there were certain plays that swung momentum Dallas’ way, No. 2 said he couldn’t pinpoint a single possession that lost the game for the Lakers. Rather it was just the accumulation of a tough second half.
"Because we are in a highlight society, it’s always easy to point to particular plays and say that’s when it happened or if we hadn’t turned the ball over on this possession, it wouldn’t have happened. But there were things throughout the game that led to the end result."
One of those things, Fish pointed out, was the quality of the opponent. No one, he said, should be underestimating the playoff-tested Mavericks.
"We played against one of the best teams in the NBA and obviously in the Western Conference. There was no anticipation or expectation of being able to get up by a certain margin and keeping the lead."
But Derek’s displeasure was not to be confused with discoragement and there’s also no expectation of a carryover effect going into tonight’s game. The Lakers lost, sure, but the only way they can approach this game is with a clear head and a clean slate.
"I don’t think that there’s ever a time where one game, one situation, one bad play, one bad decision creeps into your mind in terms of what your end goal is," he said. "Those that have been successful at anything, and the best at anything, have always proven and shown the ability to respond from the most adverse of situations. It’s not supposed to be easy."
ADVERSITY DRIVES THEM
In their recent past, the Los Angeles Lakers have yet to take an easy path to an NBA title. In their last eight playoff series’ the Lakers have lost at least two games six times.
But Fish notes that going through those trials has made the Lakers better for it each time:
"In 2008, we waltzed our way to the NBA Finals and didn’t win it," Derek said. "The last couple of years, we’ve had more interesting dynamic times getting to the Finals and we figured out a way to win it in the Finals. We’ve done what’s necessary to win and we’ve accepted the fact it won’t be perfect, we’re going to lose games and there will be times where we’re not playing up to our abilities. But if it was as easy writing the script and having it go as written, there would be a lot more teams we’re trying to do."
Drawing on their experience, improving, adjusting and adapting has made the Lakers champions the last two years. They’ve learned things they didn’t know before and, according to Fish, they’re still learning with every game they play.
"Obviously, we can’t just sit back and rely on what we’ve done in the past. But I just don’t think that … it’s not supposed to be easy. You’re supposed to kind of go through this thing according to plan and you have to just keep battling until you figure it out."
It’s the journey, Fish reiterated, that makes becoming a champion so satisfying. It allows you to take all the adversity and funnel it into one amazing moment.
"You’re not a champion until you are a champion. Everything in between, you just deal with it," he said. Until the final buzzer and the Larry O’Brien trophy is yours, you haven’t gotten to where you wanna be…. There’s a reason why we’re trying to become one of three or maybe four teams ever to make this walk four times in a row."
It’s a unified team, Fish said, that’s making that walk. Inside the locker room, every Laker is on the same page.
"Outside of the 15 players and coaches inside our locker room, there isn’t anyone that speaks for us. We are a team. We lose as a team. We’ll come to work today, we’ll do the same thing tomorrow."
But they’ll hope for a different result tonight at the Staples Center when they try to even their second round series with the Dallas Mavericks at one. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PT on TNT.
RELATED ARTICLES