| 09 June 2010
Derek Fisher's going to cop a lot of flak from the non-Lakerati for crying post the end of Game 3, where he lead the Lakers to a 91-84 victory... but I completely get it.
All season, and especially in the playoffs he's heard it:
"Derek Fisher is too old."
"Derek Fisher is too slow."
"Derek Fisher can't compete with <insert name of ferret-quick opponent point>."
"Derek Fisher can't..."
Hell, he's even heard it from some quarters of LA fans. Yet in every discussion with every D-Fish-nay-sayer, I've brought up that at sometime during these playoffs, Derek Fisher will do something that will make all viewers nod sagely and say,
"Aaaaah... that's why Phil leaves Fish in the game."
The fourth quarter was one of those moments. That 'moment' came about when the Boston Celtics were pressing and had cut LA's lead to a solitary point, and LA's offense was spluttering - basically falling into doing nothing with the ball then passing it to Kobe for the last 5 seconds... but Fish stepped up and just seized the day (funnily enough, as I type, I'm wearing one of last year's "Carpe Diem" Ts) and hit 4 of 5 buckets - pretty much capping off a great day for LA... at least from a team standpoint.
Gasol/Bynum/Odom all had 'ok' games, and it was good to see Odom have some impact, and continued valuable minutes from Bynum... but nothing any of the three could hang their hat on.
Sure, Boston suffered from an almost record-setting bad night out for Ray Allen (0-13) after a record-setting good night out. And Rondo was merely human tonight... but flip that over with a 'solid' showing from Glen Davis, and a sterling performance for KG - who actually turned up for this contest. Garnett was good, aggressive, and worked the paint well.
However, Boston fans will point to the clear room for improvement that their team can make from Game 3 to Game 4... but the truth is there's just as much possibility of progression for LA... if not more so.
No-one starred, at least beyond Fish's 4th. No-one stood out as having an extraordinary game.
I like this place that we Lakers fans find ourselves currently. With but a day off between now and game 4, that's something I figure favours LA.
Bring it on.
As James Hetfield once said, "Carpe Diem Baby."
