If there’s any player in the Thunder locker room that’s familiar with the phrase "you can’t win them all," it’s Derek Fisher.
A veteran of 215 career playoff games entering Friday’s Game 3 in Los Angeles, Derek Fisher has won 139 postseason games. But on the way to five rings in 15 seasons, he’s also been a part of 76 playoff losses.
Fish and the Thunder dropped Game 3, but still hold a 2-1 series lead (Getty Images)
That number rose to 77 on Friday as the Oklahoma City Thunder lost their first game of the 2012 postseason, 99-96 at the hands of the Lakers. But Fish made sure his teammates knew that the defeat wasn’t something to get worked up about. Instead they must move on quickly because Game 4 is Saturday night.
"He’s the best I’ve played with or seen in terms of being able to address a team, talk to a team, communicate with guys in a way that’s really effective," teammate Nick Collison told the LA Times. "It’s like having another coach, but he still has the respect of the players. It doesn’t feel like he’s preaching at you, he just makes a lot of sense."
But while the Thunder locker room was talking about the things that D-Fish does, across the Staples Center hallway, Kobe Bryant was talking about how strange it was not having Derek’s uplifting presence and voice in the locker room following LA’s win.
"It’s just very strange," Bryant told the New York Times. "I’m used to having him in the locker room. I’m used to hearing his voice, saying things that he and I have talked about, in terms of the direction of the team and what the team needs to hear, and then he vocalizes it. And I don’t have that."
After sweeping through their first round series with the Mavericks and opening with two big wins against the Lakers in Oklahoma City, the Thunder dropped Game 3 despite a strong performance, with each member of its big three scoring at least 20 points. Derek played 18 minutes and chipped in four points, a rebound, a steal and an assist.
Fish found himself guarding Kobe in the fourth as LA took the lead (Getty Images).
He heard mostly cheers in his first two trips back to Staples during the regular season, but Derek’s two buckets on Friday drew boos from the LA faithful, something he said wasn’t totally unexpected.
"I’m on a different team now. Lakers fans cheer for Lakers players. I’m no longer a Laker player so they have every right to voice their opinion," he told the LA Times after playing 18 minutes in the loss. "I wish I could have made a few more layups to get a few more boos, and maybe we would have won the game."
Despite his limited minutes in Game 3, it was what Derek said after the game and has said after ever game that is striking a chord with OKC.
"Leadership," James Harden, one of OKC’s big three said of Fish. "He says stuff every single day that helps us out and motivates us to want to go out there and compete."
It’s just that type of thing that Bryant says is missing from the Los Angeles locker room as they seek to climb out of the 2-0 series hole that Derek’s new team has put them in.
"We’ve been down, 3-2, in the NBA Finals," Bryant told the NY Times. "We’ve been down, 3-2, in the Western Conference finals. We’ve been down, 2-0, to San Antonio. So you miss that, you miss that."
NEXT UP
The Thunder and Lakers complete one of the postseason’s few back-to-backs on Saturday night in Los Angeles. OKC will be looking to stave off a series tie and push LA to the brink of elimination. Saturday’s tip-off is scheduled for 9:30 CDT and the game can be seen on ESPN.
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