Fish Shines In Crunch Time, Thunder Take Game 1

For the Oklahoma City Thunder to escape with a victory on Sunday afternoon in the opening game of their Western Conference quarterfinal series, somebody was going to have to make a defensive play to get the ball back.

That somebody was Derek Fisher.

Fish’s steal late in Game 1 led to a Kevin Durant bucket that put OKC up for good (Getty Images).

With just under 30 seconds to go in Game 1 on Sunday, the Memphis Grizzlies had the ball, a one-point lead and a golden opportunity to put the game away and steal home court in the process. But it was Fish who did the stealing instead.

Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley drained the clock down inside 20 seconds, then elected to drive for a two that would have put the Grizzlies in front by three. But D-Fish reached in to punch the ball out of the grasp of a driving Conley and the loose ball was corralled by OKC’s Kevin Durant.

“At that point, that was the only defensive play I could make,” Fish said of his strip. “Try to get a handle on the ball … Thank the Lord my arms are long even though I’m not.”

On the offensive end, Durant splashed a jumper at the other end to put the Thunder in front for good and after another Grizzlies turnover, Reggie Jackson buried two clutch free throws, pushing OKC to a 93-91 win. Fish was asked afterward about his key steal and if the Thunder even gave thought to a timeout there to set up a play.

Fish’s quick hands on defense created the biggest momentum swing of Game 1 (Getty Images).

But D-Fish told reporters that the Thunder have an abundance of confidence in Durant to make the right decision in that spot and he did.

“As soon as I saw Kevin get possession of the ball, I instantly knew we were going to just take off and run with it,” he said. “It was exactly the way the coaches said if it happens this way, this is what we’re going to do.”

In addition to his big steal, Derek also finished the game with eight points on 3-of-7 from the field, including a pair of treys. Still, the Thunder were +14 with D-Fish on the floor and Durant said that’s no coincidence.

“He makes plays, whether it’s tipping the ball out and getting a steal or hitting the big shot to start the fourth,” Durant said. “Or just his leadership in the huddles and the locker room is big for us. We need that.”

Kevin Durant lauded D-Fish for all he brings to the table for OKC (Getty Images).

While intangibles are a huge part of what D-Fish brings to the Thunder as a teammate, he’s been providing some tangible contributions to the squad as well. Sunday marked the fourth straight game that Derek has knocked down at least two from beyond the arc. He has now made 15-of-26 (58 percent) of the threes he has taken this postseason.

Sunday’s shots were all big ones. After entering the game late in the first, with both teams struggling to find early offense, Fish was on the floor as Memphis began the 7-2 run to push their lead from two up to seven.

But Fish helped keep the Thunder from panicking and his runner with 7:09 left in the half evened the score at 25. OKC found its offense late in the quarter and took a 47-46 lead into halftime.

The third quarter belonged to Memphis as the Thunder went cold, making just 31.6 percent of their shots from the field. The Grizzlies outscored them by 10 points in the frame and led by nine going into the fourth. After entering late in the third, D-Fish went about cutting into that deficit at the outset of the fourth by sinking his first three of the game just 12 seconds into the final frame.

Derek hit two treys in the fourth Sunday and is now 15-of-26 from deep in the playoffs (Getty Images).

Memphis maintained a multiple possession lead for most of the quarter, but when Derek knocked down another trey with 4:45 remaining, the OKC deficit was down to two. Kevin Durant followed with a runner to tie it and the Thunder hung in until Fish’s late steal lead to another Durant bucket to give them the lead for good.

“We started off slow in the first quarter, started off slow in the third quarter, but our defense is always going to get us through and that’s what we did today,” D-Fish said. “That’s how we’re going to win this series. That’s how we won today. We know they’re going to hit some perimeter shots at times, but Randolph and Gasol are where this team makes their bread and we have to cut into the production.”

NEXT UP
Though the Thunder are weary from playing two games in less than 48 hours on Friday and Sunday, they won’t get much rest to combat that before Game 2, which is Tuesday night in OKC.

That game tips off at 8:30 p.m. CDT and can be seen nationwide on TNT.

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