Fish Helps Lakers to Road Split

//Fish Helps Lakers to Road Split

Fish Helps Lakers to Road Split

By | 2016-10-22T05:57:46-08:00 January 30th, 2012|News|Comments Off on Fish Helps Lakers to Road Split

Derek Fisher has helped the Lakers in many unique ways throughout his career in LA.

On Sunday night, with the Lakers in need of a steadying presence as they struggled to defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves, Derek grabbed the reigns. He planned a play that put an emphasis on the Lakers’ size and LA quickly asserted their dominance in the post.

"D-Fish drew up a great play that had us crossing and then we were just getting some layups," center Andrew Bynum said.

Bynum and Pau Gasol combined for 49 of LA’s points, including 25 of 53 in the second half and the Lakers came out with an important road victory over the Timberwolves, 106-101.


Derek and the Lakers picked up their second road win of the year in Minnesota (Getty Images).

The Lakers took possession of the game immediately, when Fish hit Bynum for two. LA went on a 5-0 run to start the game and led 7-2 after Derek dished to an open Gasol – who hit a 16-foot jumper. Minnesota hung in through the first half, sticking within single digits, but the Lakers pushed the lead at the end of the half. Derek drew a shooting foul with less than four minutes to go and sank both free throws, giving Los Angeles a nine-point lead.

LA maintained that lead as Fish hit Bynum with 46 seconds left in the half, giving the Lakers an eight-point edge heading into the final 24. In the third quarter, Fish hit one of his favorite targets on the night, Gasol, who knocked down a 20-foot jumper. Derek played his facilitator role all night, assisting Kobe Bryant’s 25-foot 3-pointer late in the third, and LA led by five points heading into the last 12 minutes of the game.

The Timberwolves tried to make a late comeback, but Derek hit Bynum down the court and the big man finished with a jam that pushed the Lakers ahead by three. D-Fish followed with a bucket of his own when he nailed a 20-footer just 33 seconds later.

Los Angeles actually fell behind by one with just over three minutes to go, but Gasol hit Bynum for a layup and the Lakers regained the lead. On the next possession, Derek dished out to Gasol one more time, for a 20-footer that made it a three-point game. The two buckets started a 10-2 LA run to take the lead for good.

Fish cinched the win when he grabbed a defensive rebound off a Ricky Rubio miss with three seconds to go. The Timberwolves were forced to foul No. 2 and Derek hit his second free throw for the game’s final point.

The Lakers improved to 12-9 on the season with the win and broke a 13-game streak of scoring under 100 points. Derek, who finished with five points, seven assists and two defensive rebounds, talked at length over the weekend about the unusual start for the Lakers and said there is no reason to panic.

"We still have an opportunity to be where we want to be and who we want to be," he said. "We just have to be willing, in these tough times, to still be men, to still keep our chin up and our chest out and still have pride in our performance."

COACH FISH? NOT LIKELY
With his propensity for an inspirational speech and his ability to draw up a great play to get the Lakers going, D-Fish has been widely regarded as a great coaching candidate whenever he hangs up his sneakers.

In fact, in a recent poll of NBA General Managers conducted by NBA.com, 25.9 percent of GM’s said they’d be knocking on Derek’s door to give the point guard his chance to run a team from the sidelines.


The GM’s think he’d be a natural, but coaching doesn’t interest D-Fish much (Getty Images).

It was a landslide, as no other player received even 15 percent of the vote. It was also the second year in a row that Derek was chosen for the distinction. But D-Fish said last week that coaching isn’t something that necessarily appeals to him at this time.

"Coaching doesn’t look that fun to me, to be honest," he told the LA Times. "They seem to stress a lot, and they spend probably more hours than we do watching film and preparing for the games and what not, so I have a lot of respect for the profession and the job that coaches do. But it’s not something that I’m really looking forward to signing up to do. Especially anytime soon."

Told of Derek’s comments, Lakers coach Mike Brown approved, with the caveat that he just didn’t want Fish to take his job. Brown went on to say that he believes No. 2’s strength of character will guide him wherever he chooses to go when his time as an NBA player is complete.

"He’s going to be able to do whatever he wants, whether it be coach, GM, or president of a team," Brown told the LA Times. "He just has that right presence, or demeanor, whatever you want to call it, to succeed in life. I don’t care what he decides to do, he’ll be able to get it done."

BUCKS STOP HERE
Prior to their win in Minnesota, the Lakers headed to Milwaukee for their first road game of the weekend, but came up on the short end of a 100-89 finish.

Fish went 3-for-5 from the field, tallied two assists, two steals and seven points in the Laker loss.

Derek had it going for LA early as he hit Andrew Bynum, just two minutes into the game, and the Lakers scored four unanswered points to start it off. But with 4:20 left to go in the half, LA found themselves down by 13 points.

With the Lakers in a clear hole, Fish asserted himself as a leader on the team, hitting back-to-back buckets and cutting the deficit to nine. Then, with 30 seconds left in the second, Derek hit a 25-foot 3-pointer to cut the Milwaukee lead to eight points.

In the third, Fish found an open Kobe Bryant, who nailed the 15-foot jump shot. Derek led the offense as LA began to close the gap, trailing by only seven points heading into the final quarter of the game. Unfortunately, the Bucks could not be stopped, as the Lakers lost by 11.

UP NEXT
Fish and the Lakers head home to have the Charlotte Bobcats on Tuesday night. Tip-off at the Staples Center is scheduled for 10:30 EST and the game can be seen on FS West.

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